Bhubaneswar: The alleged rape of a minor girl from Jharkhand in Bhubaneswar has been classified as a Red Flag case, police sources said on Tuesday.
As per information, Director General of Police (DGP) Y B Khurania has given direction to designate the sensational case as a Red Flag case to ensure that investigation is conducted on priority basis.
Four women DSPs from the Crime Against Women (CAW) unit have been assigned to assist in the investigation to be closely supervised by the CAW chief.
A special independent team has been formed following the directive from the DGP, while the Crime Branch is set to formally register the case under the Red Flag category.
This apart, probe will be conducted in close coordination with Jharkhand Police. The state police are already in touch with the Jharkhand counterpart.
It may be noted that the Commissionerate Police have already arrested four persons, including the alleged mastermind, in connection with the trafficking and sexual assault of the 16-year-old girl from Jharkhand. The arrests were made during an ongoing investigation into the incident.
The minor victim was apparently trafficked into a sex racket, which was operating in Laxmisagar area of the city. The matter came to light after she was found writhing in pain on the roadside in the Ashok Nagar area of the city on October 16. The medical team alerted the police through the hospital’s outpost in accordance with the protocol after it was found that the girl had a history of sexual assault and was suffering from psychological disorders. She had sustained serious injuries on her private parts.
A formal case was subsequently registered, leading to a raid in the Laxmisagar area, where ten young women were rescued from a residential property.
Two separate cases under section 65(1) of BNS and section 6 of the POCSO Act have been registered at Laxmisagar and Capital police stations, respectively. The house owner and two women pimps have been booked for running the sex racket (human trafficking), while a case of sexual assault has been registered against the youth for sexually assaulting the minor girl.
