Another Gangrape Incident Rocks Odisha’s Rourkela City

Rourkela: Another incident of gang rape has been reported from Odisha’s Rourkela, raising concern about safety of women in the steel city.

In the incident which took place near Raghunathpali Century Park on Sunday, a minor girl was allegedly gang-raped by five men when she had gone to a restaurant in Civil township. The matter came to the fore after the survivor narrated her ordeal and lodged a complaint with Raghunathpali police on Tuesday.

“The family lodged a complaint yesterday alleging that some youths abducted her when she came out of a restaurant on September 22 night. They then took her to a secluded spot and raped her before dropping her at a place, where she was again sexually assaulted by two youths,” Rourkela SP Brijesh Kumar Rai told the media.

He said multiple teams headed by Additional SP P S Nayak has been formed to investigate the matter, which will be directly supervised by the SDPO. “We are hopeful of nabbing them soon,” he added.

This is the third such incident reported in last few days in the city.

On Saturday evening, two teenage girls hailing from Jharkhand were allegedly gang-raped while returning to a close relative’s house in a slum in the industrial city after buying footwear from a local market. “All accused have been arrested in this case and the chargesheet was filed within 15 days,” the SP said, adding that steps are being taken to ensure timely justice to the victims.

A teacher had allegedly behaved inappropriately with a Class 9 girl at a private school in the city on Tuesday. “The accused in this case was also nabbed,” he added.