Allegations of Molestation & Fake Encounter hit CRPF in Kandhamal

On July 26, a couple were killed by the CRPF-SOG personnel in the jungles of Pangalapadar near Kotagad in Kandhamal district, Odisha. The couple identified as Dubaleswar Nayak (45) and his wife Bubudi (40) were dubbed as ‘Maoists’ by the security personnel.

However, hundreds of villagers staged a demonstration on July 28, 2015, alleging they were innocent and killed by the security personnel in cold blood.

According to the villagers, the couple, along with three others, had gone to a hilltop during evening hours to get proper network signal to call their children working in Kerala. However, the CRPF jawans took them as ‘Maoists’ and gunned them down.

So far, it was suspected as a case of ‘mistaken identity’. However, son of the deceased couple, who returned to Kerala, had claimed otherwise. He has brought serious allegations of rape and murder. He claimed that the jawans first tried to rape his mother and when his father protested, both were brutally killed. He also alleged that breasts of his mother were chopped off by the jawans. Their bodies were later recovered from Madaguda forest, near Tumudibandh police limits after two days.

The villagers, rights activists and civil society members have been protesting against the “molestation and fake encounter”, but no action has been taken in this regard yet. Rahul Nayak, son of the deceased, has moved the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), seeking a fair probe into the incident, strong action against the guilty and compensation of Rs 50 lakh for his family.