Bhubaneswar, Sep 23 (IANS) The Odisha State Human Rights Commission (OSHRC) has asked authorities to submit within two weeks a report on the alleged gang rape of a woman in police custody in the state's Koraput district earlier this month, a lawyer said here Sunday.
The woman was among seven people arrested Sep 4 in the Narayanpatna area of Koraput, over 500 km from here, for their alleged link with Maoists, activist and lawyer Biswapriya Kanungo, who lodged a complaint with the commission on the matter, told IANS.
Ignoring the law, which states that police should produce an accused in a court within 24 hours of arrest, all those arrested were produced in a local court two days later. But the woman was allegedly gang raped by some policemen while she was in police custody, Kanungo added.
Kanungo said he came to know about the matter from local newspapers and filed a complaint with OSHRC Saturday, following which the commission directed the Koraput superintendent of police to submit a report on the alleged rape within two weeks, he said.
"I have requested the commission to order an independent probe into the matter and immediate actions be taken against the guilty. Besides a compensation of Rs.10 lakh should be provided to the victim," Kanungo said.
