Cuttack: The Orissa high court on Tuesday expressed serious displeasure over the 'casual manner' in which the state government has filed its replies in connection with the Kunduli gang-rape probe and directed the investigating officer and crime branch superintendent of police to appear before it in person on July 19.A division bench of Chief Justice Vineet Saran and Justice B R Sarangi directed the crime branch officers to appear in court and apprise it about the progress made so far in the investigation into the case.The court's direction came in response to a number of petitions that sought an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged gang-rape of a minor girl by security forces in October last year in Kunduli of Koraput district . What followed were rounds of aspersions cast on the veracity of the girl's allegations. The girl subsequently committed suicide on January 22 this year.Four petitions have been filed in the high court seeking CBI probes or investigation by an independent agency into the rape and suicide of the minor girl. The petitioners have all alleged that the state crime branch and police cannot conduct a fair probe into the incident.Hearing the petitions, one of which was filed by the brother of the deceased, the high court had asked the state government to file a complete status report on the incident. "The state government's counsel on Tuesday provided answers to the court that were factually incorrect. Annoyed and dissatisfied with the replies of the government, the court directed the investigating officer and the SP of the crime branch to appear before it," said senior advocate Narender Hooda, who is representing the deceased's brother in the case.Hooda further stated that during the hearing of the case, the government's counsel pointed out that the inquiry commission formed by the state government to probe the incident has issued notices to the petitioners of the case to appear before it and air their grievances."They argued that none of them deposed before the commission. However, when the court asked to show the notices, the government counsel failed to give a proper reply. The court was irked about it," said Hooda.

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