After making a filed visit to Keonjhar district’s Belabahali village where a clash between police and villagers occurred earlier this month, social action groups have demanded immediate withdrawal of police forces from the village and also revocation of false cases registered against the villagers.
Around 60 representatives of 28 social action groups on Monday staged a dharana in front of the Director General of Police (DGP) office in Cuttack demanding early release of 63 women 36 male persons from jail.
A delegation led by Pradip Pradhan and Debesh Das met the DGP and apprised him the fact leading to the police-villagers clash and the current status of the villagers and village due to police excesses.
A 15-member fact-finding-team of civil society groups had visited Belabahali village to ascertain the fact and magnitude of police atrocity and reason of it.
“We found that people had been opposing proposed diversion and expansion of the road and construction of new bridge on NH 215 over Kushei river by NHAI and the State Government as the same would create waterlogging and flood in the area and damage 2,000 hectares of agriculture land. But on July 7 at around 3 to 4 am, without any intimation, the police suddenly started its operation of seizing the village and blocking all the roads to Belabahali village and started beating up children, women, older persons mercilessly. The police also arrested many people mostly women and forwarded them to jail. Many older persons have been seriously injured due to police atrocity,” said Pradhan.
Out of fear and evade arrest, the villagers are unable to go to agriculture field for cultivation while children are unable to go to school. The injured people are not even allowed for treatment.