Mother-daughter duo found naked on road; NHRC seeks report from Sundargarh Collector, SP

Bhubaneswar: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought action taken report (ATR) from Sundargarh Collector and SP in connection with an incident in which a woman and her daughter were found walking naked on a road in broad daylight recently.

The NHRC has asked the two officials to submit the ATR within four weeks while hearing a petition filed by human rights activist and lawyer Radhakanta Tripathy.

The woman aged around 45 and her daughter (27) were found walking naked on a road at Odisha’s Sundargarh town on October 6.

They were later rescued and taken to a government-run shelter house. During counselling, the two women reportedly informed that they had been raped by one of their relatives, sources said.

The Sundargarh police launched an investigation and found that the mother-daughter duo belongs to a village in Jashpur district in Chhattisgarh.

A police team from Sundargarh visited the two women’s native place in the neighbouring state and recorded the statements of their relatives.

The police came to know that the woman and her daughter have been suffering from some mental illness since the death her husband around eight years ago. This apart, their relatives have denied the allegations of any type of sexual assault on the mother-daughter duo, sources said.

Taking all these aspects into consideration, the police sent bank the two women to their native place on October 10, sources added.

“The police are probing the incident. We will submit our report to the NHRC within the stipulated date,” said Sundargarh Collector Gavali Parag Harshad.