The Odisha Dalita Adhikar Manch demanded time-bound completion of the Crime Branch probe into the Sanjakta Jayapuria murder case in Jharsuguda district and punishment to the culprits connected with the incident.
The Manch organised a meeting here on March 15 to protest the murder of the girl who was reading in Plus II in the Mahima College of Bijapali village under likhanpur area, owing to blind beliefs and practices under fake Baba/Mata culture. Manch president Manas Jena presided.
Attending the meeting, Odisha Rationalists Society president Dhaneswar Sahu, former bureaucrat Kalyan Ray, Santosh Das from CPM, and Madhusudan Jadav, Prasant Mallick and Suvendu Nayak from the Dalita Adhikar Manch expressed deep concern over the obscurantist rituals and religious practices observed in the tribal and poverty-prone areas where the gullible Dalit poor are victimised.
The speakers said that the religious fundamentalists and fake Gurus are calling the shots in society thanks to lack of education, healthcare, employment and developmental activities in the tribal belts. They urged concerted efforts from political parties, students’ organisations, teachers’ bodies and media personnel to end such practices.