Odisha Governor Raghubar Das.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Bhubaneswar: The opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leaders on Monday met the Director General of Police demanding justice for a government official who was allegedly beaten up by Governor Raghubar Das’s son at the Raj Bhavan in Puri in July.
The incident happened when the official was on duty of President Droupadi Murmu who was in the temple town on the occasion of Lord Jagannath’s Ratha Yatra.
The BJD alleged that the state government did not take any action against the accused.
A party delegation, which met Odisha DGP YB Khurania, in a memorandum said: “We wish to draw your attention to a deeply troubling incident at Raj Bhavan in Puri, where an Assistant Section Officer (ASO) was brutally beaten up... This act of humiliation and violence has sparked widespread outrage across the state.” The inquiry process in this regard appears to have stalled, and justice remains elusive, it claimed.
“The lack of sympathy and response from the highest quarter and inaction by the administration is causing deep anguish among the Odia people,” the BJD said in the memorandum.
The party also raised the issue in the assembly on Saturday, when Leader of the Opposition Naveen Patnaik had said an on-duty government officer was “called and violently attacked by the Governor’s son and was humiliated.” Patnaik also asked, “If you are Governor’s son or minister’s son or MP’s son or MLA’s sons or a senior officer’s son, is the law different for such a person? Is he immune from any prosecution?” During the meeting with the DGP, the opposition party also raised the issue of communal tensions in Balasore, the hooch tragedy in Ganjam and and other matters related to law and order.