Terms for judicial probe into Kunduli gang-rape case expanded

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday directed for expansion of the terms of reference (ToR) for the judicial probe into the Kunduli gang rape and subsequent suicide case.

Now, committing suicide by the minor girl will be added to the existing ToR for judicial probe notified on December 26, 2017, said the Chief Minister’s Office.

The development came after the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) ordered a thorough probe into the matter and circumstances leading to the suicide of the minor tribal girl.

The Chief Minister had ordered a judicial probe by Koraput district judge to hold the commission of inquiry and complete the probe within three months.

Earlier, the judicial probe was asked to find “the sequence of events alleged to have led to the purported crime,” the persons responsible for the incident and “any other matter connected with or incident thereto, as the commission may consider appropriate.”

The Chief Minister had ordered a judicial probe into the Kunduli gang-rape case after the 14-year-old girl accused the Director General of Police of trying to bribe her and get her signature on a blank paper, appears to influence the case.

However, the survivor who alleged she was raped by four security personnel in a forest in Kunduli in Koraput district on October 10 last year, committed suicide on January 22.