BHUBANESWAR: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who had on December 30 announced creation of a special wing in Odisha Police to probe crimes against women and children, has on Monday approved 62 new posts for its smooth functioning. An inspector general will head the special wing.
While 60 posts have been sanctioned for the police, one post each has been created for a cyber forensic officer and an information technology expert.
"To prevent crimes against women & children more efficiently, CM @Naveen_Odisha approved 62 new posts for a Special Branch in @odisha_police. An IG rank officer will head the branch while 60 police personnel, one Cyber Forensic & one IT expert will be appointed," tweeted the chief minister's office, Odisha.
Two additional superintendents of police, ten deputy superintendents of police, nine inspectors, ten sub-inspectors, eight assistant sub-inspectors and fourteen constables will be appointed in the special wing. Besides, posts for five ministerial staff have also been approved.
Naveen reiterated that the safety and security of women and children continued to remain the focus area of the government. The announcement of the creation of the special wing came amid the outrage over the alleged rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl in Nayagarh in July and shoddy investigation by the local police into the sensitive case.
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) portrayed a sorry picture, relating to atrocities against women and children in the state. Registration of cases involving crime against women increased to 23183 in 2019 as against 20274 such cases in 2018. The NCRB report placed Odisha at second place after Uttar Pradesh to have witnessed most number of cases relating to molestation of women in the state.
Crime against children too has been increasing since the past few years. While altogether 3185 cases on crime against children were registered in the state in 2017, the cases increased to 5217 in 2018 and 7012 in 2019, the NCRB data revealed.
Odisha reported third highest cases relating to ‘missing of children deemed as kidnapped’ in 2019. Altogether 4316 children had gone missing in the state in 2019, the NCRB data revealed. Maharashtra topped with 5897 missing children and Madhya Pradesh 5449 such cases in 2019, the data said.