BJP politicising crimes against women: BJD

BHUBANESWAR: Under attack from the opposition quarters over the death of a lady school teacher in Kalahandi district, the ruling BJD on Saturday hit back at the BJP of doing "petty politics" over crimes against women.
Addressing a news conference here, BJD spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member, Sasmit Patra, and youth wing leader, Elina Dash, said the "sole objective of the BJP is to use heinous crime against women for political gain". Patra said the saffron party "does it when the elections are around".
"The opposition parties, especially the BJP, have been using the issues of women for their narrow political interests. BJP leaders have neither any sympathy nor concern for the victims and their families. They don't even bother to provide justice for the victims," said Patra.
Citing details of the two cases -- the death of Itishree Pradhan at Tikri in Rayagada in 2013 and the Kunduli gang rape case in 2017, Patra said in the Itishree case, the CBI inquiry had corroborated findings of the crime branch.
"In the Kunduli case, even though the opposition parties constituted fact-finding teams to ascertain truths, none of them filed an affidavit when the inquiry commissioner, deputed by the state government, requested for affidavits for witnesses and evidence," he added.
"Why didn't the opposition parties, especially the BJP, file an affidavit in this matter? What did the fact-finding teams find?" asked Patra.
Accusing the BJP of indulging in falsehood and politicising sensitive cases, the BJD parliamentarian said the regional party will "expose the falsehood and shameless politicisation of the sensitive matters by the opposition parties before the people of Odisha". He added that it is "inhuman to defame the victim and their families for political gains and a larger level conspiracy to defame Odisha and its people at the national level".