Tribal girl gangrape case: Orissa HC seeks reply from state govt,CBI

CUTTACK: Orissa high court on Wednesday issued notices to state government and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) asking them to file replies to petitions seeking investigation into the alleged gangrape of a minor tribal girl by four uniformed men in Koraput district on October 10 last year by CBI. The girl had later committed suicide in January.
“A division bench of Chief Justice Vineet Saran and Justice B R Sarangi has directed the CBI, principal secretary of home department, director general of police and SP of Koraput to submit their replies in the matter by May 3,” said a petitioner, Gautam Siddique.
As many as five separate petitions have been filed in the high court, including the petitions by the victim’s brother and mother, seeking probe into the incident by independent agency like CBI. Former MP Kharbela Swain and a lawyer Gautam Siddique has also moved high court with similar prayers.
The petitioners have alleged that a tribal girl, studying in class IX was allegedly gang-raped by four unidentified persons, dressed in uniform, in dense forest in Kunduli under Potangi police limits in Koraput district on October 10 last year. Instead of providing her justice, the senior police officials in the state attempted their best to prove her allegations wrong. Fed up with the system’s failure in ensuring her justice, the girl committed suicide in January.
The petitioners have alleged that in last so many months instead of conducting a fair probe into the matter, attempts have been made by state machinery only to sabotage the investigation process. It was evident from the fact that the state forensic laboratory at Bhubaneswar submitted two contradictory reports in the matter. In its report dated October 16, 2017, the forensic laboratory mentioned about the presence of semen in the undergarments of the girl while in its October 23 report it denied presence of any semen sample.
The petitioners have cited that the state police are neither competent nor equipped to probe into the incident. Hence investigation of the case should be handed over to CBI to unravel the truth.
"The court has directed that even petitioners can file review petition before May 2 if they want,” said Swain’s counsel, Pitambar Acharya.