Notwithstanding the recent flak it received for investigating deficiencies in the Kunduli gangrape incident, in which the victim, a minor dalit girl, was forced to commit suicide; the Odisha police still believe that the current trend of increasing sexual assaults on minor girls in the State are “very challenging and extremely difficult to prevent”.
Addressing the Press here on Wednesday, State DGP Rajendra Prasad Sharma disclosed that out of all such sexual assault cases reported in April so far, the offenders in about 92.5 per cent cases turned out to be either relatives or acquaintances of the victims or belong to same local community. “This makes it very challenging for police; and it is extremely difficult to prevent such occurrences,” the DGP said.
Suggesting that the prevalent criminal justice system needs to be geared up to meet the challenges, Dr Sharma was of the opinion for having prompt investigation, immediate arrest of the accused and early filling of charge-sheets followed by close monitoring of prosecution and increase in rate of conviction shall act as great deterrent measures. He also admitted that to increase the rate of conviction, the quality of investigations needs to be improved.
He said that although several guidelines have been issued in the past, a comprehensive review of the current situation was made on Tuesday to further sharpen the police action. “Elaborate and exhaustive instructions have been issued to all district and range police heads to bring a sense of urgency and fix deadlines for investigating and supervising police officers handling the sensitive cases of sexual assaults,” the DGP said.
Sharma claimed that in about 70 per cent of the sexual assault cases reported in the month of April so far, the accused persons were arrested within 24 hours of registration of the FIRs. “Instructions have also been issued to all concerned for foolproof and quality investigation and making the cases watertight for ensuring conviction,” he said, adding that the superintending police officers have been impressed upon to coordinate with the prosecutors for expeditious trial of such cases.