The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called for a shutdown across Odisha following the gangrape and subsequent death of a 14-year-old girl on Saturday.
Shops remained shut and markets wore a deserted look as protesters disrupted rail traffic, and also vandalised public property in state capital Bhubaneshwar.
The girl was set on fire after being raped, and later succumbed to her injuries in Kendrapara District.
The state government is facing flak for a deteriorating law and order situation, even as opposition parties are demanding stringent action in the case.
Commuters faced acute problems while using public transport and said that instead of the shutdown, efforts should have been made to ensure justice in the case by severely punishing the culprits.
"This shutdown is not right. The victim has lost her life, what is the common man's fault? Why are the public services being affected? The sane thing to do is take a strong action against the culprits so that such incidents are not repeated," Shakuntala Mohapatra, a homemaker, said.
The victim was gang raped on July 28. According to reports, one of the accused was in love with the girl's elder sister, and could not handle his rejection by her parents and decided to take revenge by perpetrating the crime.
The National Crime Records Bureau says more than 24,200 rapes were reported across India in 2011 - about one every 20 minutes. Police estimate, only four out of 10 rapes are reported, largely due to victims' fear of being shamed by their families and communities.
The gang rape of a 23-year-old woman on a bus on December, 16 in New Delhi sparked a global outcry over the issue and brought thousands of people onto the streets to demand better policing to prevent sex crimes. The trainee physiotherapist later died from her injuries.
