4,749 Minor Girls Raped in Odisha in 4 Years: Naveen Patnaik

Bhubaneswar, April 30:  At least 4,749 minor girls were raped and 385 gangrape cases were reported in Odisha between 2014 and 2017, the assembly was informed today.

While 1,283 cases related the rape of minor girls were reported in 2017, the numbers in 2016, 2015 and 2014 were 1,204, 1,212 and 1,050 respectively, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is also in-charge of the home department, said.

He was replying to a written question from Congress Chief Whip Taraprasad Bahinipati, who wanted to know the number of rape cases that involved minor girls in those four years.

Patnaik said the police arrested 4,462 persons in connection with the 4,749 incidents of rape of minor girls. Odish Police registered 385 cases of gangrape between 2014 and 2017. While 92 gangrape cases were registered in 2017, the number was 93 in 2016, 109 in 2015, and 91 in 2014, he said in a written reply.

The police arrested 752 persons in connection with the gangrape cases, he stated, adding that the home department was collecting information on the persons punished for the crimes.

Patnaik also said that provisions have been made to give the capital punishment to culprits involved in the rape of minor girls below 12 years of age.

Earlier in the day, the chief minister said stringent action would be taken against the accused in the rape case of a minor girl in Salepur, a day after the victim succumbed to injuries at a hospital in Cuttack.

Making a statement in the Assembly, he said: "I will see to it that stringent action is taken against the accused. Rs 5 lakh has been given to the next of the kin of the victim."

The six-year-old girl was allegedly raped on the night of April 21 and the accused was arrested within 24 hours, he said. "I would like to send my deepest condolence to the bereaved family and again I repeat, I feel deep anguish at this terrible incident," Patnaik said.