On 6 April 2015, a 13 year old teenage girl was picked up and raped by an eight-member patrol team of Army jawans posted at Dokmoka. When the girl’s mother and another female relative rushed to the site in order to rescue her, they too were raped. Many other women apart from these three were molested and injured. AIPWA Vice President Comrade Pratima Engheepi met the survivors when they were brought to Diphu for treatment. On 9 April, AIPWA and its sister organisation Karbi Nimso Chinthur Asong (KNCA) organised a massive protest in Diphu. Thousands of women joined the rally demanding a high-level inquiry into the rape of three women by Army jawans. The women, under the banner of the Karbi Nimso Chinthur Asong (Karbi Progressive Women’s Association), later gheraoed the office of Karbi Anglong deputy commissioner Mukul Gogoi and submitted a memorandum. Addressing the demonstration, KNCA leader Seema Ranghangpi said –”We want a high-level inquiry of the incident and adequate compensation for the victims. The administration should punish the culprits according to the law”.
Shockingly, the police lathicharged the protestors demanding inquiry and justice for the rape survivors and two students were injured in the police firing during the protests. A 24-hour long Karbi Anglong bandh was also called on April 11 by several organisations led by Karbi Nimso Chingthur Asamg (KNCA), to protest against the administration’s failure to arrest the accused even two days after submission of the FIR. KNCA general secretary Kajek Tokbipi stated they would continue the protests and added – “We have asked the administration to arrest the accused at the earliest. Unfortunately, the administration has done nothing so far. Security personnel cannot rape our women in the name of counter-insurgency operations.”
The KNCA activists along with other protestors also strongly demanded the scrapping of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
Joint Mass Demonstration held in Bhubaneswar Demanding Scrapping of Land Acquisition Ordinance-2015
Under the united call of ‘Campaign Against Land Acquisition’, Odisha (Jameen Adhigrahan Birodhi Abhijyaan, Odisha), a massive protest demonstration was held in Bhubaneswar against the Land Acquisition Ordinance brought by the BJP led NDA government. This pro corporate ordinance is an assault on the farmers and the poor in the country and is in line with the anti-people policies being introduced by this government. The call was jointly given by peasants unions of CPI, CPI (M), CPI(ML)Liberation, CPI(ML)Red Star, CPI(ML)-New Democracy, Chasi Mulia Sangha and others. Thousands of people from across the state participated in the protest demonstrations. The participants included farmers, agricultural labourers, dalits, adivasis, slum dwellers, and activists from various democratic organizations and anti displacement movements.
