The activists of the State unit of the All India Mahila Sanskruti Sangathan (AIMSS) with the support of hundreds of women of Namatara village on Wednesday staged demonstration in front of the district Collector’s office, protesting the barbaric act of police on Sunday. They met district Collector Pramod Kumar Das at his office and demanded a judiciary inquiry into the firing incident. The activists also demanded stern action against the police and administrative officers who were involved in the firing.
They repeated demands like free medical treatment to the injured, adequate compensation, withdrawal of all fake cases against the Namatara villagers, cancellation of e-licence of the liquor shop among others. Physically handicapped woman of Namatara Jayanti Sahu(30) told the Collector that when she was cleaning her utensils, armed police all on a sudden barged into her house, beat her and made an attempt to outrage her modesty. Basanti Jena stated that police forcefully entered into the village and lathi charged the people. “My 35 years’ old son Manmath sustained bullet injuries on his stomach and is undergoing treatment,” stated Basanti.
Manjulata Jena told how police indiscriminately opened fire as a result of which his daughter Rita Jena was injured for no fault. 9-year-old Rita is undergoing treatment at the SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack. One Deba Jena, whose marriage was settled recently, sustained bullet injuries near her ear whereas Purnima Mallick also sustained bullet injuries, the agitators told the Collector and threatened that a State wide agitation would be held if the demands were not fulfilled.