On the occasion of the Kasturba Gandhi Jayanti, the Odisha Pradesh Mahila Congress (OPMC) held silent demonstrations in all districts and observed it as Nari Suraksha Divas. The OPMC asked State Government to ensure the soaring crime rate against women in the State be brought under control by taking stringent law and order measures.
“Our heads bow in shame at this and we are aghast to see the abhorring apathy of the Naveen Patnaik Government towards the sordid state of affairs,” said Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan Patnaik, while addressing women workers here. He demanded that State Government brings out a new legislation to secure women.
“We are deeply concerned over the continued neglect of women by Naveen Patnaik Government, which is manifest in a series of events including dowry torture case against former law Minister Raghunath Mohanty,” OPCC president said. State Mahila Congress president Bijay laxmi Sahoo condemned the spate of cases against women in the State and asked Government to refrain from casting a blind eye towards the plight of women. District Mahila Congress Committee (DMCC) Bhubaneswar unit led by president Rashmi Mohapatra observed a peaceful demonstration before the office of the sub-collector and submitted a memorandum to the sub-collector for the Governor against the women atrocities and the poor police administration in the State for which the crimes like rape, gang rape, murder, women trafficking, dowry torture and molestation have become the regular practice of the criminals. Odisha reports among the highest number of crime cases against women and has the dubious distinction of being a State which reports largest number of rape cases. In 2012, the State registered a whopping 1,458 rape cases, indicating an average of four rapes every day.
This has dramatically increased since Naveen Patnaik Government took over in 2000. In 2000, 753 rape cases were reported, they alleged.