Keonjhar: Close on the heels of the shocking gang-rape of two minors in Bhubaneswar, a tribal woman in Odisha’s Keonjhar district was abducted and gang-raped by three youths. What is worse, the survivor was allegedly made to spend over 12 hours in a police van prior to taking her to the hospital for her medical examination.
The deplorable incident occurred in the Soso area of Keonjhar district when the woman was with her cousin. The victim is a resident of the Mayurbhanj district and had gone to visit her aunt in Gohirabani village in Keonjhar on Thursday evening.
According to reports, the miscreants abducted the woman to a secluded place and took turns on her. The matter came to light after the survivor lodged a written complaint in this connection with Soso police.
The survivor’s ordeal did not end even after she lodged the complaint and sought police help, as she was reportedly made to spend more than 12 hours in a police van before her medical examination.
The police then took the survivor to Anandapur sub-divisional hospital – 40 km from Soso. Since the crime spot was not in Anandapur, the survivor was subsequently taken to Salania CHC. As the Salania CHC did not have a lady doctor, the victim was again taken to the Anandapur hospital and made to wait in the police van till her medical examination at around 9 pm. Half an hour later, the victim was again taken to Soso police station.
Commenting on the sordid state of affairs at the police station, Soso IIC Pradip Kumar Sethi said, “Our police station falls under Hatadihi block. But, the doctors referred us to Anandapur government hospital as there was no lady doctor there. We had to go through unavoidable problems and it was not that we intentionally delayed the medical examination. An investigation is on and everything will be clear in 2-3 days.”
