Odisha: NHRC issues notice to Centre over missing transgenders from voters’ list
The NHRC passed the order acting on a petition filed by human right lawyer Radhakanta Tripathy.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought a detailed Action Taken Report (ATR) within four weeks from the Superintendent of Police of Bolangir district in connection with the murder of 24-year-old teacher, Mamita Meher.
The rights body also sought details about the compensation given to the legal heirs of the victim.
Mamita, a teacher at a private school in the Kalahandi district, went missing on 8 October, 2021. Later, her decomposed body was exhumed from an under-construction stadium near the school at Mahaling on 19 October.
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The prime accused in the Kalahandi school teacher’s murder case, Gobinda Sahu, was found hanging from a tree in the Kantabanji sub-jail of the Balangir district in Odisha on 20 December last year.
Sahu had allegedly murdered the teacher and had chopped her body into pieces. Later, he burnt her body parts before burying them. He also allegedly burned her mobile phone, bag and other belongings to destroy evidence.
The grisly murder had triggered a major controversy with the Opposition demanding removal of the then minister of state (home) Dibya Shankar Mishra, alleging that Sahu was his close associate. In the wake of the allegation, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had to drop the tainted minister in a cabinet reshuffle in June, 2022.
Rights activist and Supreme Court lawyer Radhakanta Tripathy had sought the intervention of the NHRC for a proper investigation into the case and payment of Rs 50 lakh to next of kin of the deceased as compensation.
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