Bhubaneswar: At least 4,749 minor girls were raped and 385 gangrape cases were reported in Odisha between 2014 and 2017, the assembly was informed on Monday.
While 1,283 cases related to 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.
Odisha 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 those punished for the crimes.
Patnaik also said that provisions have been made to give the death penalty to culprits involved in the rape of minor girls below the age of 12 years.
Earlier in the day, Patnaik said 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.
"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," he told the assembly.
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.
Opposition Congress and BJP have stepped up attack on the BJD dispensation over the increasing rape cases.
Workers of both the opposition parties staged separate demonstrations in Bhubaneshwar demanding stringent punishment to the accused in the Salepur case.
Holding the state government responsible for the incident, the protesters alleged that law and order machinery had collapsed in the state. They also sought concrete steps to prevent cases of sexual assault on minor girls.
Director General of Police R P Sharma directed officials to submit the chargesheet in the case within 15 days.
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