Odisha Congress forms panel to investigate cases of atrocities on women

Bhubaneswar: Alleging that at least seven women face atrocities every day across Odisha, the Congress has constituted a fact-finding committee to investigate such incidents, a party's statement said.

Expressing concern over the alleged rise in violence against women, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee claimed that 1,600 cases of atrocities on women have been reported in the state during the last eight months of the BJP rule.

Newly appointed OPCC president Bhakta Charan Das constituted the seven-member committee headed by former minister Nagendra Pradhan, the statement said.

The team also comprises three women members and will investigate all the incidents by touring various districts, it said.

Besides Pradhan, former MLA Sujit Padhi, legislators Sophia Firdosh and Satyajit Gamang, AICC women’s Congress secretary Sasmita Behera, and party leaders Manas Malik and Lipika Majhi are the members.

“The committee will soon visit various districts, inspect such incident sites, investigate these cases and provide detailed information to the Pradesh Congress Committee," Party's Media Coordinator Deepak Kumar Mahapatra said.