The employees of Sambalpur Tehsil and Sub-Collector offices on Friday held dharna in front of the office of the district Collector, demanding action against a women lawyer who attacked physically challenged revenue inspector (RI) Geetanjali Panigrahi.
“The concerned RI lodged an FIR against the advocate on Thursday in the town police station. Since police took no action because the opposite party is an advocate, we held the dharna in front of the Collector’s office demanding her arrest,” said employees’ association president Bibhuti Bhusan Pradhan.
As per information, lawyer Suranjini Barik had applied for a caste certificate for one of her clients. But the home district of the client is Sonepur and RI Panigrahi had reported to the Tehsildar accordingly and suggested for asking for a report from the Tehsildar of Sonepur which is the standard procedure.
But the angry advocate, without realising the fact, blamed the RI for intentional delay of the certificate and brutally attacked her. She was not even prepared to listen to any valid clarification from the RI in front of the office staffers and public, Pradhan added.
On the other hand, Barik lodged a counter FIR against the RI alleging that she was misbehaved by the latter when she asked about the work.
“Basing on the FIR of both the sides, an investigation is going on,” said Sambalpur SP Sanjeev Arora. “We have got some video footages and after a thorough analysis, action as per law will be taken,” the SP added.