Bhubaneswar: On a day protests by Opposition parties spread across the state after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik shared the dais with Minister of State for Home Dibya Shankar Mishra during his visit to Kalahandi, the Odisha Congress on Monday hit out at the BJD on the issue of women safety.
Addressing a press conference here, Odisha Congress spokesperson Nishikanta Mishra said that ahead of the CM’s Kalahandi visit and with Dibya Shankar Mishra under attack, the BJD showed two videos to stress that women’s safety, stopping atrocities against them and punishing those who commit crimes against women were top priority for them.
The two videos were on the Tikiri and Kunduli incidents. A school teacher, Itishree Pradhan, had been set on fire in Tikiri in Rayagada district. School SI Netrananda Dandasena was convicted in the case.
The Congress spokesperson, however, said that the victim had said in her dying declaration that a youth in jeans had set her on fire but the youth was never caught.
Similarly, in the Kunduli incident, none of the accused have been arrested, he said.
While the BJD claimed in the videos that the guilty had been punished in these cases and that the Opposition was playing politics, the Congress leader blasted the BJD, saying that in both incidents the main culprits were not punished. The Congress leader said that “we don’t want to watch videos but we want the perpetrators to be punished”.
Sharpening its attack, the Congress said that “if Dandasena, the main conspirator, was punished in the Tikiri incident, then why was the Odisha government trying to protect Dibya Shankar Mishra, who the Opposition has alleged is the main conspirator in the Mamita Meher murder case”.
The Congress also cited the case of Ayush doctor Madhabilata. The Puri-based doctor was found dead on railway tracks at Malatipatpur in 2012. Later, her body went missing from where she was buried.
The Congress also cited the Pipili gangrape incident where the accused were acquitted as the prosecution could not prove the charges.
The Congress leader said that all these incidents show that the state government and the ruling BJD were not serious about giving justice to women victims of crime and it shows the apathy of agencies and collusion of officials to shield the accused.
The Congress also said that if the past cases were any pointer, it was highly likely that the guilty in the Mamita Meher case too will go unpunished.
