Bhubaneswar, Jun 2 (PTI) Opposition BJD and Congress on Tuesday blamed Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi for rising “police brutality” in the state, while demanding stringent action against officers of the force responsbile for the alleged custodial death of a labourer in Ganjam district.
Addressing separate press conferences, the BJD and the Congress leaders referred to the “custodial death” of the 32-year-old man at Kabisuryanagar police station in Ganjam, “physical torture” of a woman and her son at Talchua Marine police station in Kendrapara and “severe assault” on another person in custody in Cuttack “within a span of a fortnight”.
Rejecting the opposition allegations, BJP spokesperson Manoj Mohapatra asserted that the state government has taken prompt action in all such cases.
The BJD has formed a fact-finding team headed by former MLA Ramesh Chandra Chayu Patnaik to probe into the Kabisuryanagar police station incident, where the “polio-infected” daily wage labourer Sushant Sahu died allegedly due to police torture.
Sahu, who had been detained for allegedly being part of a group that attacked police personnel last month in Ganjam, was declared dead on arrival by doctors of MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur on Sunday night.
The team will submit a report to BJD president Naveen Patnaik, a party statement said.
“The death of a physically challenged man at Kabisuryanagar police station has disturbed the entire state. The incident has raised serious questions about the law and order situation, and the functioning of the police administration,” BJD senior general secretary, Bhrugu Baxipatra, said.
Three officers have been suspended and all the staff of the Kabisuryanagar police station were transferred following the incident.
Baxipatra claimed that Sahu was detained at the police station for five days “even though his name did not feature in the FIR”.
He demanded that police officers involved in the incident should be booked for murder.
“The police system in the state is no longer under the control of the chief minister, who is also in charge of the Home Department,” Baxipatra said.
Congress leader Nagendra Pradhan and party spokesperson Manisha Das Patnaik alleged that incidents of violence, murder, rape, harassment of ordinary people and police brutality are on the rise in Odisha.
“The DGP has said twice in the last 10 days that criminals will not be spared in Odisha under any circumstances. But, they continue to commit crimes. On the other hand, the police are calling ordinary people and torturing them,” Das Patnaik claimed.
BJP’s Mohapatra, however, asserted that the state government is committed to bringing criminals to book.
“At least three officers were suspended and all staff of Kabisuryanagar police station were transferred as soon as the allegation of the custodial death was made,” he said. PTI AAM RBT
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