Congress sets up five-member panel to probe alleged rise in crimes against women in BJP-ruled Odisha

The Congress on Thursday (June 19, 2025) named a five-member fact-finding team to visit Odisha and submit a comprehensive report on the alleged rise in crimes against women and the large number of women reported missing in the State. The announcement followed the gang rape of a college girl at Gopalpur in Odisha on Sunday (June 15, 2025).

Party general secretary Deepa Dasmunshi will convene the panel, which includes three MPs — Ranjeet Ranjan from Rajya Sabha, and Praniti Shinde and S. Jothimani from Lok Sabha. Former Mahila Congress chief Shobha Oza will also be part of the team.

“In light of the horrific rape incident reported from Gopalpur in Odisha, the increasing cases of atrocities against women, and the disturbing number of women reported missing — numbering in the thousands over the past few years — the Hon’ble Congress president has deputed a fact-finding team to visit Odisha and submit a comprehensive report on the situation,” Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said in a statement.

A case was registered at the Gopalpur police station after the survivor, an undergraduate student of a private college, lodged an FIR on Monday. The incident occurred on Sunday night when the woman, who lived in a private mess with three other women, went to the beach with her classmate on the occasion of Raj Parv. According to the complaint, a group of 10 men arrived, held her boyfriend, and took turns raping her.

At a press conference at Congress headquarters, Mahila Congress president Alka Lamba said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself campaigned in Odisha and won by promising security. But if you look at Odisha’s report card over 11 months, 15 rape cases are reported here every day; in 10 months, 4,500 daughters are pleading for justice across the State, and in 11 months, 28,000 women and daughters have become victims of atrocities. Where do criminals get so much courage from?”

Along with Odisha Mahila Congress president Meenakshi Bahinipati and Odisha MLA Sofiya Firdous, Ms. Lamba alleged that “the past year of the BJP government in Odisha has been very dangerous and dreadful for the sisters, daughters, and women of the State.”

Published - June 19, 2025 10:43 pm IST