The Odisha Patita Uddhar Samiti (OPUS) on Monday urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik through the State Commission for Women (SCW) to declare Rs 10 lakh as compensation to each rape victim as a policy within 45 days of the incident for their survival and to enable them to leave a normal life.
Members of the Samiti came in a procession starting from the Blind Association office to the SCW office here protesting injustice caused to rape victims of the State.
Samiti secretary Abharani Choudhury said the Government always declares compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family members of deceased rape victims to avoid any kind of protest from the opposition political parties, public and social activists, but it never thinks about compensation for the rape victims who are living in the society.
She said Rashmita Behera, the deaf and dumb dalit rape victim of Barakota (Badasada) Angul district, was given Rs 20,000 as compensation while the State had declared Rs 2,95,000 to Sunita Bindhani, a rape victim of Indapahi in Mayurbhanj district when the deceased’s family threatened to stage dharna in front of the residence of the Women and Child Development Minister with help of deaf
associations.
She said that as many as 10,725 rape cases were reported in the State from the year 2000 to 2011. Out of these cases, 619 related to SC and 407 to ST victims. Approximately, more than 1,400 rape cases have been reported in the year 2012, she added.
“If the State Government does not give Rs 10 lakh as compensation to all rape victims, they will move to the High Court regarding violation of constitutional right in respect of rape victims,” said Choudhury.