Bhubaneswar: The opposition BJD and Congress hit the streets Monday over women’s safety in the state and decided to intensify their agitation over the issue.
The development came after the burial of the 15-year-old Puri girl who died of burn injuries, and the arrest of two ABVP activists in the Balasore woman’s college student self-immolation death case.
While the BJD called for a 6-hour “hartal” in Puri district August 7, the Congress announced that it would hold two rallies in Balasore and at Balanga in Puri, demanding justice for both the victims.
The opposition parties have been agitating over the two incidents for some time.
While a 20-year-old FM College woman student died at AIIMS Bhubaneswar of self-immolation on the night of July 14 protesting denial of justice over a sexual harassment case, the minor girl of Balanga area in Puri district died August 2 at AIIMS, Delhi after being allegedly set ablaze by three miscreants July 19.
In the second case, however, police did not find the involvement of anyone else, while her father also said his daughter was under mental pressure and took her own life.
“In both cases, police investigations were faulty and real culprits were not caught, denying justice to the victims,” OPCC president Bhakta Charan Das told reporters here.
He said that for women’s justice, a ‘padayatra’ will be organised from Balasore FM College to Bhograi August 14 and another August 12 from the spot where the girl was set afire at Balanga to Nimapara.
“We have given a 7-day ultimatum to the Odisha police to serve justice for the Balanga victims. If justice is not achieved, the Congress will gherao the DGP office in Cuttack. There is also a programme to gherao police stations across the state. Our intention is not to fight the police, but to make the police aware,” Das said.
He alleged that the state’s BJP government is protecting the criminals.
“We are requesting the police to act according to their conscience,” Das said.
At a press conference in Puri, the district BJD president Umakanta Samantray said that the party has given a call for “hartal” August 7 from 6 am to 12 noon across the district, demanding justice for the minor girl who died of over 70 per cent burn injury at AIIMS Delhi on Saturday.
“We see a clear conspiracy behind the victim’s family changing its version. When the minor girl’s mother in FIR mentioned that her daughter was set on fire by three miscreants, her father during treatment at AIIMS, Delhi changed the stand and said that his daughter took the extreme step due to mental stress. We suspect there is pressure on the victim’s family to change the version,” Samantray, a former MLA, said.
While the Youth Congress activists during the day gheraoed the chief minister’s residence and scuffled with security personnel, the BJD’s youth and student wing members staged a demonstration at Master Canteen Square demanding justice for both the Balasore and Balanga victims.
They too demanded action against ABVP and BJP activists for their alleged involvement in the self-immolation of the woman student of FM College in Balasore.
Alleging that women, girls and students are unsafe in Odisha, the BJD activists burnt effigies of chief minister, deputy chief minister and higher education minister as a mark of protest.
