Another minor motherhood case in Odisha, accused held

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bolangir, Mar 20:

While the incidents of minor motherhood in Malkangiri, Koraput and Kandhamal districts of Odisha has triggered statewide uproar, another such incident has come to the limelight in Bolangir district.

According to reports, a class IX girl of Tetelapada village of Kapilabhata panchayat under Bangomunda police station limits in Bolangir district was in love with Siba Hansa (23) of the same village.

Subsequently, the girl became pregnant.

On March 13, the girl complained acute stomach pain to her parents. In the night, while the parents had gone asleep, she came out of her house and delivered a baby boy and threw it inside the well.

The villagers found the body of the baby inside the well on March 16 while the girl informed the matter to them on the next day.

The villagers, in a meeting, asked the family members of Siba to solemnise marriage with the girl to which he refused.

Following a complaint lodged by the parents of the girl, police took the girl and the accused for medical examinations.

On the basis of the medical examination report, police produced Siba in the court which remanded him to judicial custody on Thursday after rejecting his bail plea, said Bangomunda IIC LN Sahoo.

The issue was cropped up during demand discussion of ST and SC Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare department in the State Assembly on Thursday where chief whip of Opposition Congress Tara Prasad Bahinipati came down heavily on the state government for its failure in containing minor motherhood cases in tribal schools while terming such incidents as “Biju Chhua Yojana’ (Biju Kid Scheme).

As per the reports presented in the State Assembly, there have been 117 minor motherhood cases in the state till date.