Kendrapara, Oct 10 : National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought Action Taken Report (ATR) from the Sundargarh District Collector and Superintendent of Police on the incident of woman and her daughter walking naked in a busy street in broad daylight without any help and assistance from anybody.
The NHRC took up the case and issued the direction on Monday, acting on a petition filed by Rights Activist Radhakanta Tripathy, who highlighted the abominable phenomenon of the woman and her daughter walking naked in broad daylight.
The petitioner stated that on October 6 last, the woman and her daughter were found walking naked at College Road, one of the busiest roads in Sundargarh town in Odisha.
Earlier, it was informed by the victims, who were in traumatic situation, that they hail from the bordering village of Khairimunda in the adjacent Simdega district of Jharkhand.
Subsequently, the woman, in her mid-40s, and her daughter, in mid-20s, who are currently undergoing recovery at Aastha Gruh, a shelter for mentally-ill women, located in Rangadhipa of Sundargarh town stated that they are from Chhattisgarh.
They alleged sexual assault and outraging modesty throughout their walk from their state to Odisha.
They were spotted by local MLA who ensured that the Government machinery kept them in Astha Gruha in Sundargarh.
The woman has three daughters. After her husband’s death she was raped by one person. The daughter who went to Delhi returned back and faced the ordeal.
The petitioner contended that the mother daughter duo, unable to bear the plight and immense pain lost mental balance and walked naked and landed in Sundargarh without any help and assistance from the onlookers and Government.
Neither the Government machinery nor the civil society could come to their rescue.
The failure of Chhattisgarh Government in punishing the criminal and rehabilitating the victims posed a serious violation of human rights, Tripathy said.
The negligence in rescuing two naked victims walking in full public view in a busy town like Sundargarh also posed a serious question of human rights in Odisha, he said .
The petitioner further stated that neither the Police Patrolling,Government agency nor the civil society, onlookers, Good Samaritan could help the situation, rather they were harassed throughout their journey.
Tripathy requested the NHRC to investigate in detail the plight of the victims, take immediate legal action against the culprits, rehabilitate them with reuniting the entire family with compensation and benefits of welfare schemes.
The copy of instant proceeding be forwarded to the Odisha Chief Secretary and DGP for information and also for ensuring compliance of direction of the Commission by the authorities, the NHRC order stated.
The Commission further said “Let a copy of the complaint be also transmitted to the Secretary of the concerned State Human Rights Commission, calling upon him to inform this Commission the date of cognizance, if any, taken at their end in the matter within four weeks.