BHUBANESWAR: In a shocking incident, two youths gangraped a minor girl in her house in a village under Puri’s Chandanpur police limits late on Thursday.
When the incident took place, the 16-year-old victim’s younger sister was present in the house but their parents had gone out to witness the immersion ceremony of Kali Puja.
Puri SP Prateek Singh said the incident occurred at about 2 am when the victim was alone with her seven-year-old sibling in their house in Biranarasinghpur village. The two youths, taking advantage of the absence of the girls’ parents, barged into their house and committed the crime.
“Immediately after a complaint was lodged, police rounded up the two suspects and they are being interrogated,” Singh said adding that a case of gangrape has been registered. The victim’s medical examination will be conducted on Saturday. The district child welfare committee (CWC) has been asked to take care of her.
According to B M Samantrai, inspector-in-charge of Chandanpur police station, the accused are residents of the same area. Sources said one of the suspects was nursing a grudge against the victim for lending her mobile phone to his sister to help communicate with a male friend.
Meanwhile, the BJD condemned the incident in strong words and said the shocking crime has once again exposed the complete collapse of law and order in Odisha. Party spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said the enforcement machinery in the state has failed and the fear of law has disappeared, while criminals operate with impunity.
Mohanty alleged after the double engine government assumed charge, women have become unsafe even within their homes because of weak policing and poor law enforcement.
Expressing deep anguish, Mohanty held the state government responsible for the growing crimes against women. The politicisation of the police force has eroded public trust and emboldened criminals, he added.
