While the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) last month had taken cognizance of a rape and murder case of two dalit women in Baragarh district, a writ petition was filed in Orissa High Court this week alleging that the district police have not yet registered an FIR into the incident that took place nearly two years ago.
According to the petition filed in the High Court, a dalit family of Rupapally village under the Veden police station area was ostracized by a ‘Praja Court’ in September 2016. The members of the family were tortured by the villagers and their house was torched in the presence of police. Subsequently on September 23, 2016, three women members of the family were picked up by the police and were taken to the police station.
“On the way to the police station, the policemen raped the women at a deserted place and later handed them over to the villagers. The villagers then confined the women in a jungle and repeatedly raped them for over ten days. However, one of the women escaped from the clutches of the villagers and reported the matter to her elder brother,” said petitioner Sasmita Mallick.
Sasmita in her petition has also stated that while she escaped from the jungle, she feared that two of her relatives were murdered in the jungle by the villagers. The petitioner further alleged that while her brother Ganesh Mallick had brought this matter to the knowledge of Baragarh SP, no FIR has yet been registered in this connection in any of the police stations of the district.
The OHRC however, after taking cognizance of the matter on May 25 this year, had issued notices to Northern Range IGP and Baragarh SP. Both the senior police officers have been asked to file their respective reports to the Commission within two months, informed Sasmita’s counsel Nishikant Mishra here on Saturday.