Baripada: A police complaint was lodged by a lawyer at Karanjia town in Odisha Friday seeking prompt action against the alleged use of President Droupadi Murmu’s picture in commercial advertisements.
The police have accepted the complaint and investigation is on to verify it, Karanjia police station in-charge Ranjan Kumar Sethi said.
Murmu’s picture has been used by a company manufacturing mustard oil, Jharana Prusty, a woman advocate based at Karanjia in Mayurbhanj district, claimed in her complaint.
Prusty also submitted a picture of the alleged advertisement as evidence of her complaint.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that advertisements for certain goods are made using pictures of the country’s president,” she said after lodging the police complaint.
“The post of the country’s president has dignity and it is unbearable to see a hoarding carrying her picture put up near a dustbin at Manika Chhak in Karanjia town. The advertisement with the president’s picture sends a wrong signal to the society,” she said.
Similar hoardings are also seen in other parts of Karinja town, Prusty said and sought to know whether the Notified Area Council there has given its permission to the oil company to use the President’s picture in them.
Murmu hails from Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj district. Sources there said many small time traders use her picture in their banners and hoardings to cash in on her popularity.
PTI
