The Odisha government on Tuesday informed the State Assembly that the accused in all the eight cases pertaining to the rape of minor girls in different districts during the past few weeks have been arrested.
Making a statement as directed by Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat on Monday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha said the State government was giving priority to strict action against those involved in violence against women.
The police were successful in arresting the accused persons within 12 hours of occurrence of the crime in the three such cases reported from Cuttack district on April 21, Mr. Arukha informed the House.
Promptly arrested
Similarly, the accused persons were promptly arrested in two cases reported from Balasore district on April 14 and April 15 and two reported from Kendrapara district in the recent past, the Minister said.
He further informed the House that the accused had also been arrested in the case reported from the Thuamul Rampur area of Kalahandi district on April 18.
The Minister said cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act were being investigated as ‘red flag’ cases and special public prosecutors were being engaged to handle these cases. The conviction rate in rape cases has increased to 16.90% in 2017, he added. Legislators of the Opposition Congress and the BJP had raised the issue of increasing incidents of rape of minor girls and stalled the proceedings of the Assembly on Monday.
Making another statement with regard to the incident in which a man killed a woman in the premises of a court in Sambalpur on Monday, Mr. Arukha said the accused had been arrested and produced in court. Security was also strengthened in the court in view of the incident.
Earlier on Tuesday, the proceedings of the House were adjourned twice with the Opposition legislators stalling the proceedings over the incident of murder in the Sambalpur court, and improper implementation of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act in tribal regions.
