E-Paper
Odisha: Homeless woman gangraped for over 7 months; 4 arrested
The woman was rescued on September 6 and sent to a One Stop Centre after she was found to be pregnant
The Dhenkanal district police in Odisha on Sunday arrested four of seven youngsters who allegedly raped a 22-year-old homeless woman over last 7 months taking advantage of her father’s mental health issues.
Though the woman was rescued on September 6 and sent to a One Stop Centre after she was found to be pregnant, the Dhenkanal Police swung into action only after human rights activist Jayanta Kumar Das lodged a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Sunday with copies to the Dhenkanal Police.
Police officials said the seven youngsters used to drag the woman to the terrace of an abandoned anganwadi centre where she lived with her father and sexually assault her after 10pm almost every night. “Her father has mental health issues and he usually sleeps by 10pm. The youngsters used to force their way into the abandoned anganwadi centre as the door could not be bolted from inside. Then they used to sexually assault her till 2am. The assault did not stop even when she became pregnant five months ago,” said Dhenkanal sadar police station inspector-in-charge Deepak Kumar Lenka.
Police said after the FIR was lodged, they have managed to arrest four of the seven accused. “We would arrest all the accused as soon as possible. Raids are on,” said Lenka, adding that the woman’s father would be rehabilitated in an old-age home.
Human rights activist Das, who lodged a complaint with NHRC, alleged that the woman had lodged a complaint with the families of some of the accused. “But none of them took note and dismissed the incident accusing her of being mentally imbalanced. That emboldened the accused who kept on sexually assaulting the woman,” he said, alleging police inaction in the issue. “Though the woman was sent to One Stop Centre on September 6, it’s strange as to how the police did not act until I lodged a complaint. The delay in registering the FIR reflects malafide intention and neglect of duty, both of which are punishable under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The One Stop Centre officials are supposed to inform the police,” he said.
Police said the woman and her father started living in the abandoned building after the latter’s wife passed away. Their near and dear ones reportedly usurped their land and house rendering them homeless, they said.
The gangrape comes around a week after chief minister Mohan Majhi directed the director general of police (DGP) YB Khurania to convene a police officers’ conference on the issue of women’s safety. Stressing that his government would have a zero-tolerance policy on matters of women’s safety, he told the DGP that if any police officer is found to have neglected their duties on matters of women safety, exemplary action would be taken against them.
At 9.2 %, Odisha has one of the lowest conviction rates in criminal cases against women in the country against 25.3% across the country, as per the NCRB-2022 report. The conviction rate in these types of cases is 70.8% in Uttar Pradesh, 68% in Mizoram and 60.9 % in Bihar.
.
