Bhubaneswar, Mar 10 (PTI) Congress workers held demonstrations across Odisha on Monday to protest an alleged rise in crimes against women, particularly the gang rape incidents.

Holding placards and banners, and raising anti-BJP slogans, Congress leaders and activists staged sit-ins near the district collectors' offices across the state.

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“We have held peaceful demonstrations across the state and demanded justice for women who are not at all safe in the state,” Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das told reporters here.

He also participated in a protest in front of the additional district magistrate's office in Bhubaneswar.

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Party MLAs also joined the Congress activists and staged demonstrations after raising the issue in the assembly

They alleged that more than 1,600 cases related to crimes against women have been registered in a span of only eight months in the state.

These include 54 gang rape cases, Das claimed.

Former OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik alleged that Odisha tops the list of states in terms of violence against women.

“If you go through population number, Odisha tops the list of crimes against women,” Patnaik said.

The party, in a statement, said that rape and murder in Balasore, and gang rape in Dhenkanal are just some of the examples of the crimes against women in the state.

“The rising crimes against women have exposed the incompetence of the state's BJP dispensation. The Congress demands the ouster of the BJP government as it has completely failed to protect half of the state's population,” a statement, issued by OPCC, alleged.

When the party leaders and activists staged agitation across the state, the Congress MLAs also held a sit-in near the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the assembly premises.

Responding to Congress allegations, BJP spokesperson Manoj Mohapatra said, "The Congress held protests in order to maintain its identity among the masses. What is happening in Congress-ruled states?"

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)