Woman stripped and molested in Coastal Orissa

Kendrapada, Apr 21 (UNI) A woman had been allegedly molested in Goudabadpur village near Mahakalpada, about 30 km from here, police said today.

The 35-year-old mother of two children was subject to molestation by a few supporters of a particular political party on Sunday last, since she did not cast her vote in favour of their candidate in the recently concluded three-tier panchayat polls, police said here.

The incident came to the limelight when the victim brought the matter before a senior police officer at the district headquarters, alleging that the local Mahakalpada police did not entertain her FIR on grounds that the Officer-in-charge supported the political party.

According to the victim, the supporters tried to influnce her by offering money so that she votes in favour of their candidate at the Panchayat poll. However, she had turned down their offer.

''On April 15 the political party supporters stripped her clothes, used filthy language and tried to outrage her modesty in broad daylight in the village,'' the victim's husband alleged.

On hearing the complaint, District Superintendent of Police-in-charge Jayadeb Sarangi ordered an inquiry into the incident.

A case was registered on Friday and the victim was sent for medical examination, police informed.

When contacted, the Mahakalpada officer-in-charge S Dalei said a case has been registered in the Mahakalpada police station but no arrest has been made so far.

He, however, said as per preliminary investigation, the woman was neither stripped nor molested but physically assaulted by some fellow villagers.

UNI