Bhubaneswar: “I was taught the police protect us. But I never imagined that I would have to undergo this kind of an ordeal. The protectors have become destroyers. I have no faith in the police and the judicial system now. The government will be responsible for whatever happens to me or to my family,” the Kunduli minor rape survivor said Friday at a public hearing at the Lohia Academy here.
She said that before she could realise what life is she had to experience what every girl shudders to even think of. She said she had told the police that she could identify one of the culprits but was not given a chance to view an identification parade.
Instead of justice she said she was asked why she had not committed suicide as many rape victims do, she sobbed, and asked the gathering whether she had the right to live.
Supriya Samantaray, the mother of Kasturi Samantaray of Odogaon of Derabish block in Kendrapara district, also alleged that her daughter was raped at a sports camp and had died due to trauma. But she is yet to get justice. She levelled allegations against the mistress, the headmaster of her school, the physical education teacher and the peon of the school where the sports meet was held. She said she had knocked on the doors of everyone from the collector to the Chief Minister in vain. Supriya wants the culprits punished as soon as possible.
Four months have passed since college student Prabhati alias Barsha Patra of Sukinda area in Jajpur district was murdered. Her family registered a complaint with the Sukinda police. The investigation has not progressed beyond registering the case. The family has sought the intervention of the SP and the DGP.
Narrating her struggle to get justice for her departed daughter, Akhaji Patra, the mother of the deceased, said they are too poor to fight the case. She asked the gathering whether justice was available to the poor.
The family of college student Snehalata Chhatria of Sargipali in Balangir district, the family of Jhumuri Nayak, the rape victim of Nayagarh district, Aahuti Mohanty of Baripada and Mini Pradhan of Bhubaneswar expressed dissatisfaction about police investigations. They said the police did not show any interest to nab the culprits.
After hearing the cases, retired CBI judge Hrudaya Ballav Das, who was sharing the dais with dignitaries like former senior administrator Prasanna Kumar Mishra, senior journalist Rabi Das and activist Aparna Nayak, held the police responsible for the trauma of the victims and their families. Had the police shown any interest in solving cases the culprits would now have been in jail, he said.
The hearing was organised by Civil Society Forum on Human Rights and CACL Orissa.
Demanding an SIT for all the cases, the dignitaries and human rights activists decided that they would meet the HC Chief Justice and request his intervention.
PNN