Rape and
Mysterious Death of Kasturi Samantaray, a 10th Class Student of
Kendrapara district
Supriya samantaray and Bibhuti Samantaray, Parents of
Kasturi Samantaray, Rape victim who died under mysterious circumstance presented before
Jury of Public Hearing on “Status of Alleged Rape cases and Situation of Rape Victims in Odisha” held in Bhubaneswar on 29.12.17 about rape of their daughter in the school
premises and conspiracy of the police to cover up the case
and their relentless struggle to get justice.
Kasturi
was the student of 10th Class of Rukuni Devi High School, Adagaon
village under Indol Gram Panchayat
of Derabisi block. She was
meritorious student and Sportsman. On 22nd Sept.17, she was carried
by her sports teacher to Rajendra Narayan High School, Rajkanika to attend the
Annual Sports festival. On 23rd
Sept., kasturi returned with
the Sports Teacher to her
house. The parents found her
mentally imbalance and wanted to know from her about the reason. She shared how she was raped in the night and
said that she did not want to live. On
the next day, she started vomiting and the parents carried her to Kendrapara
hospital where the doctor declared her dead.
But though the dead body was kept ready for post-mortem,
Doctor Nihar Ranjan Praharaj getting a
phone call refused to conduct post-mortem. Everybody present in
the hospital got astonished and
suspected conspiracy behind it. Then, her dead body was carried to S.C.B
Medical, Cuttack for Post-Mortem. But
astonishingly, the Post-Mortem report has not been submitted to them.
It deserves to be mentioned here that Satyabrata Sahu, peon of District Education Officer was caught in
compromising position in night at
2 pm and he was also beaten up. It was
reported to DEO in the night. But the authority of R.N. High School did not file any complaint in local police station.
They tried to cover it up and send the
girl to her village.
Alleging
death of their daughter due to rape, the parents lodged FIR in local police
station. But the police did not conduct
any inquiry rather tried to suppress it. Then, the parents met Collector and SP of Kendrapara
and requested them to arrest the culprits and give them justice. But the while
district administration sat over complaint and tried to dilute the case giving
an impression that death of Kasturi is natural death. In the meantime, the Head Master of Rukuni
Devi High School gave them Rs. 8000.00 as bribe and requested them not to
pursue the case. On 23rd Nov. a massive rally and demonstration under
banner of 20 Social Organisations was organised in Kendrapara with
participation of hundreds of people demanding immediate arrest of the culprits.
The parents also approached National Commission for Protection of Child Rights,
State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, State Commission for Women by
filling complaints seeking inquiry into the matter. On 13.10.17, NCPCR had given
direction to SP, Kendrapara to enquire into the allegation and take action
within 7 days. But though 3 months have
passed, the administration has not taken any steps to nab the culprits. The parents also attempted self-immolation in
front of residence of Chief Minister, Odisha. However, the police rescued and
assured them to give justice. They appealed to all the participants and Jury members
to cooperate them in their fight for justice.
In
the meantime, after Public Hearing and expose of media about police negligence, a Crime Branch Team had visited
residence of Victim on
8.1.18 and started investigation.
Pradip Pradhan
M-9937843482
Date- 11.1.18
No comments:
Post a Comment