I visited village Manida under Delanga
Block of Puri district to meet father of Itishree Pradhan, who was brutally
killed in Raygada. I was deeply saddened and totally stunned. A visit to the
family and there was no doubt in my mind that she belonged to a really poor
family struggling to make both ends meet and I do not know how they can ever
recover from this episode. Possibly they never will.
I am utterly appalled by the manner in
which the young girl was killed despite her grievance of sexual harassment very
much known to all levels of the government. She kept fighting for justice till
the last moment. This is not a political issue. I am horrified as a father of a
daughter. How have things come to this sorry state in Odisha, once upon a time
known as a peaceful state?
Let me briefly recount the sequence of
events. Itishree, who belongs to a poor family from Puri district, had become a
Sikhya Karmee far away from home in the tribal district of Raygada. She was
posted to Tikri, where she was subjected to sexual harassment by a School
Inspector Dandsena. She reported the matter personally to the local police,
block level officials, the district Collector, the district S.P. and when no
action was taken she also met the Chairperson of the State Mahila Commission,
the State Human Rights Commission and the State Director General of Police. She
gave a written petition to the Chief Minister of Odisha. The State Human Rights
Commission ordered the district authorities to enquire into inaction of the
local police. An administrative enquiry found the allegation to be true. An
F.I.R. was registered. She kept fighting bravely despite threats from powerful
people. But, no action was taken despite all levels in the Government structure
being aware of the sexual harassment she had gone through. Dandsena was not
arrested. This inaction emboldened Dandsena and his associates and finally they
killed her by pouring kerosene as they had threatened.
The victim had knocked at the doors of all
and sundry, but the system failed to redress her grievance or intervene and the
young girl was finally killed. The victim had personally met the District
Collector, the S.P., the Mihaila Commission and the State DGP. She had given a
written petition to the Chief Minister, who is also the Home Minister. Who else
is she supposed to appraise of the harassment that she had gone though at the
hands of powerful people? Even after an administrative enquiry found the
allegations of Itishree to be true and even after registration of an F.I.R,
with the Police, no action was taken and Itishree could not be protected from
the dastardly attack.
From her death-bed Itishree has given her
last testimony, which is actually a ‘dying declaration ‘under Section 32 of the
Indian Evidence Act. In her statement she has blamed the Chief Minister and the
local M.P. Jayram Pangi for the fatal attack on her. I salute her courage in
remaining steadfast even as she faced death. If this does not make the Chief
Minister bury his head in shame, what will?
The murder of Itishree is in many ways more
serious than that of Babina, Madhabiliata or Nirbhaya cases since this was
clearly in the knowledge of authorities at all levels of the government. It is
also apparent that the State Government has learnt precious little from the
Babina or Madhabilata episodes and the general sense of outrage all over the
country and the system failed once again. When the Babina and Madhabilata
episodes happened, as a responsible opposition party, we had spearheaded the
protest that led to the resignation of a Cabinet Minister and the appointment
of one more judicial commission. In the wake of the Nirbhaya case in Delhi I
had through my blog made a number of constructive suggestions to improve the
situation in the state with regards to safety of women. The State Government
has hardly got any interest in the issue and therefore my suggestions were
ignored. Nabeen Pattnaik and his Government continues to be callous because they
feel that they can get away by ordering one more Crime Branch investigation and
announcing a few more lakhs as compensation. I commend the decision of the
family of this brave girl to reject Nabeen Pattnaik’s compensation; true to the
spirit of Itishree. Nabeen Pattnaik should learn that people of Odisha may be
poor, but they cannot be purchased by money.
So long as BJD continues to win elections,
the security of women will not be any matter of great concern to the state
Government. Congress paid a heavy price for attacks on women, particularly the
Chabirani and Anjana Mishra cases. The time has come for the people to make the
state Government realize that neglecting issues of protection of our daughters
and daughter-in-laws will have a serious political cost in purely electoral terms,
then and only then, can such callous attitude be remedied.
Where are the BJD spokespersons who with
great fineness and gift of the gab take up the cause of women on national
television. Is it that only attacks in Delhi, heinous as they may be, concern
these English-speaking Delhi-based faces of BJD? Even in the case of Linchon
Subudhi, BJD leaders were competing against each other to proclaim from the
roof-top how they are committed to women’s issues. What about Itishree? Why have
they not asked the local M.P. to resign even after the truth becomes so
apparent? What has been the state Government’s response to growing numbers of
Crimes against women in the state? As per statistics of the National crime
Records Bureau not merely atrocities against women are on the rise, Odisha also
has least percentage of cases ending in conviction. Appearance apart, Nabeen
Pttnaik has provided an administration where the offenders have least likely to
be punished and this is proved by statistics.
The Itishree murder is a case of monumental
failure of the entire government structure. Many could have intervened
decisively, but they watched as an innocent girl was brutally murdered. She had
requested for protection and help which never came forth. There is now a need
for an objective investigation into entire sequence of events. Police inaction
of this scale, despite the matter getting personally reported to the state DGP
by the victim and a written order of the State Human Rights Commission cannot be
a matter of accident. There is a need to find the entire conspiracy because
those who provided protection to the perpetrators of this crime or pressurized
the police not to act are as guilty as the killers and must be booked for
conspiracy. If the Government indeed cares for safety of women, particularly
working women, a CBI investigation should be ordered rather than making a few
lower level government functionaries scapegoats. Nabeen Pattnaik must take the accountability
as the Home Minister and order a CBI investigation immediately. It is also the
responsibility of all sections of society to pressurize the Government to order
a CBI investigation or else we will be as guilty when the next girl is killed
at the hands of another predator. It is time for Odias to realize that the
political support that they have extended to BJD is largely based on an
appearance and that truth is otherwise.
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