Bhubaneswar: Congress workers held demonstrations across Odisha on Monday to protest an alleged rise in crimes against women, particularly the gang rape incidents.
Congress leaders and activists staged sit-ins near the district collectors’ offices across the state.
“We have held peaceful demonstrations across the state and demanded justice for women who are not at all safe in the state,” Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das said.
He also participated in a protest in front of the additional district magistrate’s office in Bhubaneswar. Party MLAs also joined the Congress activists and staged demonstrations after raising the issue in the assembly.
They alleged that more than 1,600 cases related to crimes against women have been registered in a span of only eight months in the state. These include 54 gang rape cases, Das claimed.
Former OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik alleged that Odisha tops the list of states in terms of violence against women.
The party, in a statement, said that rape and murder in Balasore, and gang rape in Dhenkanal are just some of the examples of the crimes against women in the state.
