Handicapped girl ‘raped’,accused arrested

Three days after a 14-year-old girl died after being set on fire by two youths,a hearing and speech-impaired tribal girl in Bhubaneswar was allegedly raped by her instructor at a central government-run vocational centre.

The 20-year-old from Baripada in Mayurbhanj district is a student of TV and radio repair work at the Vocational Rehabilitation Centre for the Handicapped (VRCH) in Pokhariput. On August 6 morning,an instructor at the centre,Dhiraj Kumar Srivastava,allegedly told the girl,who was running fever,that he would take to her a medical store. He,however,took her to his home and raped her several times. He then dropped her off at the hostel. Secretary of VRCH,Nirajlaxmi Mahapatra said Dhiraj threatened the girl of dire consequences if she spoke about the incident to anyone.

The girl on Sunday,however,told her friends about the incident. Mahapatra said the police were initially reluctant to lodge a complaint,but were forced to act after BJP and Congress supporters protested outside the Mahila police station in the city. Accused Srivastava was arrested from Barmunda lodge on Sunday night.