Bhubaneswar: Members of a women’s organisation Thursday filed two separate complaints with the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) and the State Council for Women (SCW) seeking justice against police inaction. Some miscreants attacked members of Sabitri Bai Phule Mahila Sangha, a women’s organisation engaged in various social development campaigns, at Chandanpur village in Simulia police limits of Balasore district. After no action was taken by the local police, the women approached the SCW and OHRC.
According to the complaint, the accused, Niharkanta Panda of the same village along with his accomplices, brutally assaulted some of the members including the president of the organisation, Satyabhama Behera. The accused were nursing a grudge against the organisation since it helped a blind resident of the village get back his property that was illegally encroached by one of the aides of Niharkanta a few years ago.
On April 15, Babuli Das, brother-in-law of Umamani Das, a member of the Mahila Sangha, was thrashed in public by the miscreants while he was offering prayers at a temple. When Umamani and her husband came to his rescue they were also beaten up. Later, Satyabhama and other members reached the spot and took the injured members lying unconscious on the road to hospital.
However, around 20 persons beat up the members of the women’s organisation after stopping their vehicle midway. Later, they also bound Satyabhama to an electric pole and thrashed her. They made videos of the episode and shared them on social media.
The women had filed a complaint in this regard April 15. They filed another complaint two days later along with the video clippings April 17. They also filed complaints with the SP and Collector of Balasore April 21 and 23 respectively.
Police initially arrested four of the 20 accused but let them go without taking any action.