Bhubaneswar: Tension erupted at Banpur of Khurda distict on Thursday after a minor girl allegedly committed suicide by taking poison following police inaction on a rape complaint at Sunapadia village on Wednesday.
The incident comes close on the heels of the suicide by the Kunduli 'gang-rape' victim on Monday.
The family members of the victim alleged that the girl was raped on December 31 following which they lodged a complaint with the police on January 2. However, the police did not take any action against the accused till date.
"Unable to bear the shame and injustice, she took poison," said the victim's mother, blaming the police inaction for the suicide. The incident triggered tension in the area with local residents taking to the streets. They did not allow the victim's body to be taken for post-mortem. They placed the body on the road and blocked traffic movement. They demanded immediate arrest of the culprit and action against the negligent police officers.
Congress and BJP leaders also visited the dharna site to express their solidarity with the protesters.
Khurda police superintendent Dipti Ranjan Ray, however, asserted that the police had acted promptly after the complaint was lodged. "We had raided the accused's house. But, he is absconding. The search is on," he said.
In another development, BJP Mahila Morcha activists on Thursday protested the Kunduli suicide incident by carrying a mock funeral procession of Naveen Patnaik government. Morcha state president Pravati Parida said: "This government is inactive and dead."
In Koraput, a BJP delegation led by state president Basanta Panda visited the Kunduli rape victim's Musaguda home on Thursday.
Panda demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged gang-rape by security personnel in Koraput district on October 10.
However, the 48-hour bandh call given by the Maoists in protest against the government's reported failure to provide justice to the Kunduli gang-rape victim evoked no response in Koraput and Malkangiri districts on Thursday. The Odisha Human Rights Commission on Thursday sought a report from the state government over the Kunduli rape victim's suicide.
