PCC president Jayadev Jena on Monday condemned the ghastly act in which a minor blind and deaf girl was gangraped and brutally murdered at a village near the Puri-Konark marine drive recently.
He told a news conference here that what happened to the blind girl at Beldal village is a clear case of gangrape and more serious than the Delhi girl rape incident which had rocked the entire country. Since the police are trying to shield the real culprits, the case must be handed over to the CBI for a thorough probe to bring the criminals to book, he demanded.
The PCC chief along with State Mahila Congress president Bijaylaxmi Sahoo and Puri DCC chief Sarat Rath on the day visited Beldal and interacted with villagers. Jena came down heavily on the police investigation, which according to him is eyewash. He said the circumstantial evidence of the incident clearly indicates involvement of more than one person and it was a case of gangrape. It was more sinister than the infamous Delhi gangrape case, he said.
The police story that a driver alone did this rape and murder is disbelieving and nobody in the village and in the area is buying this story, he said, adding that the real culprits are being shielded by powerful ruling party politicians and the police is working under duress.
Jena lambasted the State Government for the fast-worsening law and order in the State. A number of similar incidents of rape and murder in this tourist-cum-pilgrim city have been reported while the tourists and residents are feeling unsafe.
In last so many cases, no visible police action has been taken, which has encouraged the criminals who were moving scot-free under the patronage of ruling party politicians, he further alleged.
Though this incident happened in the constituency of Minister of law Maheswar Mohanty, he has not visited the village and the bereaved family, Jena pointed out.
He too flayed payment of a meagre Rs 10,000 to the family of the victim. When the BJD Government makes tall claims to be championing the interests of the girl child, it did precious little in this case where a poor blind and deaf minor student was gangraped and murdered. He demanded that the Government pay Rs 20 lakh to the victim’s family.
He said that while such a ghastly act has been committed, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is busy for his party’s political show in Delhi. The Congress would launch a State-wide agitation demanding a CBI inquiry into the case and till the deceased girl family gets justice, Jena announced.
Earlier on Sunday, Congress leader lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra and former Puri MlA Umaballav Rath at a Press conference here had also demanded a CBI probe into the gangrape and murder of the minor blind and deaf girl and suitable compensation to the family of the victim.