Bhubaneswar: A three-year-old minor girl from Kela slum under Airfield police limits in Odisha capital Bhubaneswar was on Monday night allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered by youth living in the same locality.
According to the local police, the accused was identified as Ghania who lives in the same slum. He went absconding after committing the ghastly act.
The police suspects that after assaulting the minor girl, Ghania killed her in an apparent bid to hide the crime and fled the spot.
A resident of the Kela slum said, “The girl suddenly went missing in the evening. After searching for some time her family members found her body from under the bed.
“The girl had come to my shop two times in the evening for chocolates. After some time, there was a commotion and everybody searched for the girl. People had seen Ghania with the girl in the afternoon. So when her body was recovered, Ghania fled the slum,” a shopkeeper in the slum said.
The Airfield police and a special squad have launched a manhunt to nab the accused.
In another case of murder was reported from the Gothapatana under the same Airfield police limits. A woman running a refreshment shop was found murdered under mysterious circumstances while her husband was away to fetch water. The police has launched an investigation into the case.
In another case, again in the same police station’s jurisdiction, a woman was allegedly murdered by her in-laws. The family of the deceased filed a police complaint alleging that her in-laws used to torture her and killed her.
Meanwhile, the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday expressed concerns over the safety of children and women in the city.
The BJP held the state government responsible for such incidents, citing that in the absence of stringent action, the perpetrators in many cases go scot-free.
Voicing concern over such incidents, senior BJP leader Babu Singh said, “Why are women unsafe in Bhubaneswar? Why are they not provided safety? The perpetrators manage to go scot-free and commit more crimes.”
President of the Odisha BJP Mahila Morcha, Aiswarya Biswal said, “Many children in the state are missing and most of them are girl children. They are either kidnapped or untraceable. The state government is hardly concerned about the missing children.”
There was, however, no reaction from the ruling party Biju Janata Dal.
