Bhubaneswar, Sep 21 (PTI) Odisha Deputy Chief Minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo on Saturday said the recent “sexual assault” incident at Bharatpur Police Station was being “politicised” and asserted that those found guilty would not be spared.
Speaking to reporters, he said the BJP government in the state has already suspended five police personnel for their alleged involvement in the incident.
“The incident is being politicised… It is due to the BJP that former chief minister Naveen Patnaik emerged from his house and issued a media statement after 24 years,” Singh Deo said.
Patnaik had on Friday demanded a court-monitored SIT probe and a judicial inquiry into the alleged sexual assault of an army officer’s fiancée in Bharatpur Police Station on September 15.
Any person found guilty during the investigation would “not be spared and stringent action would be taken against them”, Singh Deo said.
“The BJD government has left the police in such a situation…The previous government had constituted several judicial commissions for inquiry into various cases, including the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, during its 24-year tenure. But they have not made such inquiry reports public,” he claimed.
Speaking at a press conference, BJP state spokesperson Anil Biswal said the Odisha government would not tolerate violence against women.
The Bharatput Police Station case has been handed over to the crime branch for “impartiality and transparency” in the investigation, he said.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has already clarified that strict action would be taken against the culprits, he said.
Biswal said the BJP government is committed to adopt “zero tolerance policy” in this incident.
“During the previous BJD government, crimes against women were reported in Odisha. However, neither then chief minister nor anyone from the insensitive BJD dispensation ever met such victims,” the BJP leader said.
“Our other deputy chief minister Pravati Parida has already met the victim in the hospital on Friday,” Singh Deo added. PTI BBM BDC
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