CUTTACK: The alleged gangrape of the 18-year-old Dalit girl in a Pipili village, who has gone into a coma since, has begun to turn the heat on the police and the medical authorities with the Orissa High Court on Tuesday seeking a comprehensive report on her health by Wednesday. The division bench of Chief Justice V Gopalagowda and Justice BN Mohapatra has also directed the Puri SP to depute a DSP- level officer to investigate the alleged gangrape incident and submit its status report in a week along with arresting the accused. Treating a letter petition filed by advocate Prabir Kumar Das as PIL, the bench instructed the Chief Medical Officer of Capital Hospital to evaluate the treatment given to the victim and also if the patient was responding to the treatment. The CMO should also inform the Court if the victim was required to be shifted to a better-equipped hospital for more effective medical care and attention. Considering the threat perceptions, the Court also directed the DCP Bhubaneswar to keep watch over the victim, who is being treated at the Capital hospital and deploy personnel for round-the-clock surveillance in and around her. A lady cop should also be posted at her bedside, the bench ordered. The petitioner on Tuesday drew the attention of the Court to the plight of the girl and her family, who have been subjected to intolerable suffering due to denial of treatment and inaction of police in rendering them justice. The girl stood witness in the case of molestation of her friend in January 2008, who had committed suicide after the incident. The accused had been threatening her and her family to withdraw as the witness. The victim girl had allegedly been gangraped in November 2008 and was rescued in an utter naked and comatose state by the locals. She had been taken to the Pipili hospital, Capital Hospital and SCBMCH where she had been treated on the floor for 17 days before being discharged. The girl’s family members filed a police complaint against the accused but the Pipili police took no action in the matter. The plight of the girl was brought to the notice of the State Commission for Women on January 7 and she was taken to the Capital Hospital from where she was referred to SCB MCH Cuttack. However, she was allegedly denied admission by doctors at the SCB, the petitioner complained. The gangrape and subsequent denial of proper medical treatment coupled with alleged inaction of police amounted to violation of Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution, the petitioner submitted. Meanwhile, the Crime Branch on Tuesday took up investigation into the incident. A special investigation team headed by a DSP under supervision of a lady Additional SP has been formed and has started its procedures, the CB on Tuesday revealed.
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