A week after the alleged rape of a Class-III student by a school peon in Rayagada district, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed the police administration to conduct an impartial investigation and give justice to the family members of the victim.

“This complaint be transmitted to the concerned authority for such action as deemed appropriate. The case is closed,” the NHRC stated in a letter to the district Superintendent of Police (SP).

The order was passed after president of Nyay Pain Ladhei Parivar (NPLP) Subrat Kumar Dash filed the complaint seeking stern action against the accused and a compensation of Rs 50 lakh to the family members of the victim.

Last week, the eight-year-old Dalit girl, who is a day scholar at an ashram school run by the ST, SC Development Department at Dangasil village under Kashipur block of the district, was allegedly raped by the peon. While the accused Shiba Prasad Mishra has been suspended and taken into police custody, the incident has triggered widespread rage among locals. The villagers resorted to road blockade and some of them even set a police vehicle on fire when the cops tried to intervene and pacify them. They were demanding that the accused be handed over to them.

Official sources informed that the accused lured the minor to an empty room of the school after she came from home post lunch and then raped her. The victim’s family came to know from her friends about the incident after they saw her crying in pain and bleeding profusely. The victim had been admitted to the local hospital but later shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital after her condition deteriorated. She is currently stable, they said.