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NCW says Anjana Mishra gang-rape should be probed by CBI

The National Commission for Women today said there is a breakdown of the law and order machinery in Orissa where women are concerned and the inquiry into the Anjana Mishra gang-rape case should be conducted by the CBI.

A three-member team of the NCW, which went to Orissa on January 11, two days after the gang-rape, said it was evident that ab initio the official machinery had been lax in handling the case.

At the same time, the commission also urged all political parties not to twist the case to their advantage, as was being done presently. All political parties should rise above party lines where it is a matter of the dignity of any human being, it added.

Commission members Sayeeda Hameed and Sukeshi Oram, who were on the team said at a press conference in Bhubaneswar that the NCW was not satisfied with the ordering of a judicial inquiry by the state government into the incident as such probes were time consuming.

During its three-day stay in Orissa, the NCW team met some 20 persons and representatives of organisations, including Orissa Chief Minister J B Patnaik, Anjana Mishra, the home secretary, director general of police, Anjana's friend Sutanu Guru who was with her at the time of the incident, his driver Neelkanth Raut and several women activists.

Stating that the purpose of the NCW team's visit to Orissa was not to investigate the matter but to ensure expeditious justice to the rape victim, Sayeeda Hameed said that there were no two opinions that the incident took place. However, there were two versions about whether it was a pre-meditated incident and the commission was not in a position at present to accept either version as the correct one.

While Anjana Mishra claimed that it was a pre-meditated assault with the intent of punishing her for dragging former advocate general Inderjeet Ray and Patnaik to court in a sexual harassment case, the police and government officials said that the gangrape was unrelated to the earlier case and was the work of criminal elements who waylaid Anjana on the night of January 9 as she was going from Bhubaneshwar to Cuttack with Orissa TV news producer Sutanu Guru to meet her lawyer.

The commission expressed surprise that police and government officials were raising doubts about Anjana's motives in taking the Barang Road for going to Cuttack. It said that the administration's admission that the road was unsafe did not speak highly of the law and order situation in the heart of the state and that too on a road which links the two most important cities of the state, mostly used by VIPs themselves.

''The need for tightening police patrolling and law and order machinery there becomes obvious. The commission strongly urges the administration to act expeditiously on this and ensure that the state was safe for women at all times and at all places,'' it added.

The NCW report also castigated the medical examination report for being ''casual and insensitive''. While it described the injuries suffered by the victim and the doctor admitted that these indicated a high probability of gangrape, the medical report only said that ''the possibility of a sexual intercourse cannot be ruled out''.

''The commission wants to express a strong view that even a preliminary report cannot be as casual and insensitive as this, particularly in this matter. It feels constraint to point out that reports such as the one under consideration assume great importance since they are considered material evidence in the court''.

The commission members also expressed shock that the medical examination was conducted by two male doctors in the presence of a female junior. It expressed its outrage that in a place like Cuttack, where there should be no dearth of female gynaecologists, the examination had to be done by two male doctors.

Hameed and Oram also expressed surprise that when they reached Bhubaneshwar on January 11, two days after the incident, they found that no one in authority had bothered to visit the victim, offer a word of sympathy and assure justice. On the other hand, questions had been raised in ''the highest quarter in Bhubaneshwar'' about her travel to Cuttack at that late hour.

''The commission wants to record its view that this attitude is totally insensitive since it does not take into account the traumatised feelings of an aggrieved woman,'' the NCW report said.

The commission also strongly recommended that the government change the inspector in-charge of Anjana's security as she had complained about him treating her in an insulting manner. The principle of natural justice and fairness necessitated this, the members said.

While Anjana claimed that the police did not provide her a personal security officer to accompany on outstation trips, police said that she refused to take the PSO. The commission wondered why the police picket at Anjana's residence did not inform the higher authorities about this. The commission found irrefutable evidence that this reporting was not done. Even when Anjana did not return home on the night of January 9, no search effort was mounted. ''Thus the very purpose of the security cover provided to her at great public cost was completely defeated,'' the commission observed.

UNI

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