Remuna: A seven-year-old Dalit girl of Patripala village under Remuna police limits in Balasore district was gangraped and subsequently killed by miscreants. Her nude and mutilated body was recovered from the banks of river Sone Monday.
According to sources, the girl had lost her father and was living with her widowed mother. She returned home from a feast at a relative’s marriage function Sunday afternoon. Later, she went to the riverbank to relieve herself.
Her mother searched for her as she failed to return till the evening. While scouring the area the villagers found her dress and a pair of slippers on the riverbank. Suspecting that the girl might have drowned they called fire brigade personnel but failed to trace her.
Apprehending that she might have met with an accident the villagers stayed awake all night and searched for her in every possible direction. Meanwhile, residents of Lalpatna village on the other side of the river found the mutilated and nude body of the girl under a bush Monday morning and informed the police.
The incident flared up tension in the area with irate villagers staging a road blockade by burning tyres on Hataiaganda bridge. They demanded immediate arrest of the accused and justice to the victim’s family.
The villagers also sought a ban on the illegal hooch trade in the area and action against those involved in illegal sand-lifting from the riverbed.
Remuna MLA Gobind Das and former MLA Sudarshan Jena rushed to the spot and joined the protesters.
Sensing that things might snowball into a law and order situation, tehsildar Binay Mohanty, Nilagiri SDPO Swapna Ranjan Mohapatra and Remuna police IIC Surendra Nayak rushed to the spot and assured the agitating villagers of fulfilling their demands.
The protesters relented after Mohanty provided Rs 20,000 to the bereaved family from the district Red Cross Fund and assured them of further assistance of Rs 30,000 from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
The body was sent for post-mortem and a case under the POCSO Act was registered in this connection, IIC Nayak said. Sniffer dogs and forensic squad were pressed into service, he added. PNN
