The BJP has demanded Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s resignation over the rape and suicide of Rairangpur College Lecturer Rukmini Mandal.
At a Press conference here, State BJP spokesperson Lekhasri Samantsinghar dubbed it as administrative failure and attributed the gory happenings to police inaction.
Describing the concerned Jharspokharia Police Station IIC Sarat Kumar Mahalik’s suspension as mere eyewash and that the guilty are still going unpunished, Samantsinghar demanded that Mahalik should be arrested on charges of abetment to suicide, basing on the victim’s statement and other related evidence.
Stretching her point further, she lamented that tragic and shameful incidents like those of Rairangpur, Kunduli, Nimapada, Jajpur and Junagarh are increasing in the BJD-ruled State with each passing day. And no exemplary punishment has been awarded so far to any of the guilty, she alleged.
For all these cases of violence against women, Samantsinghar asserted that CM Patnaik is to be squarely blamed , for the simple reason that, as she pointed out, Naveen himself looks after the Ministry of Home Affairs in the State.
Others present at the press conference included MLAs Prakash Soren, Budhan Murmu, Sanatan Bijuli , ZP president Sujata Murmu, senior BJYM leader Thakur Ranjit Das and BJP (East) District president Dr Krushna Chandra Mohapatra.
Notably, Physics Lecturer Mandal (23) was found hanging in her hostel room on November 30. The deceased had, just a month before that, filed an FIR in the Jharpokharia police station alleging that she was raped and was under severe mental pressure but no necessary action was taken.