annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Orissa
her to the SCB Medical College and
Hospital for medical examination. 19 The
woman alleged before the investigating
officers that though she approached the
Cantonment police station in Cuttack
twice, her case was not registered by the
officer-in-charge. 20 On 22 June 2004, five
Armed Police Reserve personnel
identified as Havildar Sk. J. Sajjedin,
constable no. 1196 Kailash Kandi,
constable no.1845 Pratap Sahoo,
constable no. 1676 Ashok Mallick and
constable no. 236 Krushna Chandra
Behera were arrested. 21 However, the
victim failed to identify the accused in a
test identification parade at the Choudwar
Circle Jail, Choudwar on 26 June 2004. It
was reported that police made attempt to
hush up the case and might have
threatened the victim. 22 On 7 July 2004,
the court of the additional district and
sessions judge rejected the bail petition of
the five police personnel. 23
In October 2004, Nayapalli police
arrested one Karunakar Jena, a CRPF
jawan on charges of abducting and raping
a 15-year-old minor girl. The accused had
abducted the girl while shopping from a
market in Kolkata and took her to
Bhubaneswar. He allegedly raped her
continuously. However, the girl managed
to escape and informed her parents. Acting
on the complaints lodged by the parents,
police arrested Jena. 24
On 25 October 2004, Pratima Biswal,
an alleged AIDS patient was allegedly
burnt to death by her in-laws at
Tentuliapada under Kodala police station
limits in Ganjam district. According to
reports, Biswal had lost her husband about
one and half years back. She lost both her
children soon after in quick succession.
The death of her husband and the two
children gave rise to suspicion among the
villagers that they were all victims of
AIDS. When Biswal returned to her inlaw’s
house on 24 October 2004, she was
allegedly burnt inside the house. 25
IV. Atrocities against the Dalits
Impunity against atrocities on the
Dalits by the upper castes has been
responsible for increasing violence. Of the
4,084 cases of atrocities against Scheduled
Castes recorded in the Orissa from 1
March 2000 to 1 May 2004, charge-sheets
have been submitted in only 2,518 of these
cases. While five persons were convicted
in 2000, four were convicted in 2001 and
one each in 2002 and 2003. 26
The State government also refused to
implement the scale of relief payable to
the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes victims as prescribed in the SC &
ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
On 27 February 2004, the State
government increased compensation to a
Dalit victim of atrocities following suo
motu intervention of the NHRC in April
2001. The victim was beaten up and fined
Rs.4,000/- by the upper caste people at
Ganda Turum village in Bhaden block for
entering their prayer meeting. The NHRC
reportedly found out that although a case
had been registered against the accused,
the state government had sanctioned a
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