While only two days are to go for the scheduled Supreme Court hearing in the lady teacher Itishre Pradhan case, the State Government on Friday dusted off the forgotten Rajesh Verma report and initiated action against four of 13 persons named in it.
The report had stated that administrative lapses had led to ‘murder’ of the Tikri lady teacher in Rayagada district in October, 2013.
The Government has stopped increments of Rayagada SDPO Y Jagannatn Rao for six months and two increments of the then DPC and present ADM laxminkanta Behera, besides recommending disciplinary action against the then SP Rajesh Pandit, who is now the Angul SP, and blacklisting SI of Tikri police station Durgeswari Devi.
At the next hearing, the Government has to file an affidavit listing actions it has taken in the case based on its own inquiry. Though a year had been passes since the Rajesh Verma Committee submitted its report fixing administrative lapses for Itishree’s death, the Government was sitting silent.
Meanwhile the Government action against three officers excepting Tikiri PS SI has been decried by different quarters. “Merely stopping increments for a few months is hardly a ‘punishment’ given to officers in such a high gravity case,” said some intellectuals.
They also wanted to know why the State Government has spared the then district Collector Sashi Bhushan Padhi and IIC Sujit Kumar Ray whose names are also in the report.
Notably, Itishree had named Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik along with others as responsible for her death in her dying declaration. The Supreme Court is scheduled to conduct a hearing in this case on Monday.