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