By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, September 9, 2024: The police in Odisha on Sunday arrested four of seven youngsters who allegedly raped a 22-year-old homeless woman in Dhenkanal district over last 7 months taking advantage of her father’s mental health issues. She is found to be pregnant and was rescued on September 6 and sent to a One Stop Centre.

The Dhenkanal Police belatedly swung into action after human rights activist Jayanta Kumar Das lodged a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Sunday with copies to the Dhenkanal Police.

Police said the woman and her father started living in the abandoned building after the latter’s wife passed away. Their near and dear ones reportedly usurped their land and house rendering them homeless. Taking advantage of the girl’s hopeless situation, seven youngsters used to drag the woman to the terrace of an abandoned anganwadi centre where she lived with her mentally sick father and sexually assault her after 10pm almost every night.

Human rights activist Das, who lodged a complaint with NHRC, alleged that the woman had lodged a complaint with the families of some of the accused. “But none of them took note and dismissed the incident accusing her of being mentally imbalanced. That emboldened the accused who kept on sexually assaulting the woman,” he said, alleging police inaction in the issue.

“Though the woman was sent to One Stop Centre on September 6, it’s strange as to how the police did not act until I lodged a complaint. The delay in registering the FIR reflects malafide intention and neglect of duty, both of which are punishable under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The One Stop Centre officials are supposed to inform the police,” he said.

Last month, a 31-year-old woman medical resident was raped and murdered inside her workplace, RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, in Kolkata. The case, which is currently under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation, has touched off protests across India as the country struggles with growing number of rape cases exposing inadequate protections for women.

Incidentally, the gangrape comes around a week after chief minister Mohan Majhi directed the director general of police (DGP) YB Khurania to convene a police officers’ conference on the issue of women’s safety. Stressing that his government would have a zero-tolerance policy on matters of women’s safety, he told the DGP that if any police officer is found to have neglected their duties on matters of women safety, exemplary action would be taken against them.

Conviction rates for rape ranged between 27%-28% from 2018-2022 in the country, while at 9.2 %, Odisha has one of the lowest conviction rates in criminal cases, as per the NCRB-2022 report. The conviction rate in these types of cases is 70.8% in Uttar Pradesh, 68% in Mizoram and 60.9 % in Bihar.