Bhubaneswar: Odisha government in Tuesday transferred Puri SP, A N Sinha, under fire from the Opposition
and women's organisations for failing to register complaints
in connection with the Pipili gangrape case.
State Home Secretary U N Behera told reporters here that
Sinha has been posted as commandant in the Special Operation
Group (SOG), Odisha's elite anti-Naxalite force and Koraput SP
Anup Kumar Sahoo would take charge in Puri.
The transfer came five days after Agriculture Minister and
Pipili MLA Pradip Maharathy, accused of harbouring the accused
persons in the rape and attempt to murder case of a Dalit girl
in Pipili, resigned from the post on moral grounds.
DGP Manmohan Praharaj earlier had suspended the then
Pipili police station in-charge officer on charges of
suppressing the FIR of the girl's family.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had yesterday cautioned
police officers of "stringent action" in case of default in
registration of offences against women and asked the DGP to
ensure that all women-related cases were registered.
Though the girl's family had lodged an FIR at Pipili
police station on November 29, 2011, a day after the incident,
police only registered the case on January 9, 2012 following
instructions from the State Human Rights Commission.
Patnaik and his government has been strongly criticised by
the Opposition and women bodies for the failure.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 18:52