Odisha: Rescued Mother-Daughter Duo Belongs To Chhattisgarh, Family Denies Sexual Assault Allegation

Rourkela: Police have traced the family of the woman, who along with her daughter was rescued while walking nude on College Road in Odisha’s Sundargarh town on Friday, to Kharibahal village in Chhattisgarh.

According to sources, the statements of the woman’s sister and youngest daughter are being recorded at Sundargarh Town police station. The family members reportedly told police that the woman lost her mental balance following the death of her husband about eight years ago and they left home about 4 days ago.

“The woman’s younger sister has identified them. They are mentally unwell and the family has been looking for them since Wednesday. They want to take them back home. Necessary steps will be taken as per the law,” said SDPO Himanshu Behera.

The SDPO further said that the family has filed no complaint of rape. “We are yet to confirm if they were sexually exploited. Investigation is on from all angles,” he added.

It was earlier reported that the woman, in her mid-40s, and her daughter, in mid-20s, are from the bordering village of Khairimunda in the adjacent Simdega district of Jharkhand. They were rescued from a bridge on College Road around 11.30 am on Friday by BJP MLA Kusum Tete, who covered the women with shawls from her vehicle, and sent them to Aastha Gruha, a shelter for mentally-ill women, located at Rangadhipa in the town, with the help of police. During counselling, the mother, who could recall certain details, alleged that her brother-in-law, Mithun, had been sexually exploiting them, according to Secretary of Aastha Gruha Snehalata Patel.

Sources, however, said that the elder sister of the woman has mentioned nothing about the alleged sexual assault to police.

Police too had maintained that the rescued mother-daughter duo has not stated anything about sexual assault so far.

Sundargarh SP Pratyush Diwaker said that the duo was provided with psychiatric counselling by a team of professionals at Aastha Gruha but they spoke nothing about sexual assault. Since, the elder woman spoke in Hindi, their photographs were sent to police stations in the bordering districts of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to ascertain their identities, he said, adding that their medical examination was deferred on the advice of doctors since they are very weak.