Attack on journalists in Pipli

A group of anti-socials, allegedly at the behest of the Notified Area Council (NAC) chairman of the Pipli area of Puri district, S. K. Babu, who was aggrieved over the publication of a news item in Sambad about him, attacked Rajat Ranjan Dash, the Pipli reporter of the said publication on February 4, 2011. According to the FIR lodged by the journalist, supporters of the ruling party M. A. Rahaman, M. Yusuf, Basant Das and Prabhat Sethi along with Babu, chased the reporter with weapons and brutally beat him. Later on, Babu threatened that if any news comes out against him in the future, then the reporter will face dire consequences. Further, Babu threatened the reporter, showing his revolver from point-blank range. After this attack, the group threw a severely injured Dash on the main road of the town.

This incident created a hue and cry in Pipli. The local people took to the streets immediately after the incident and blocked the NH-203 (Bhubaneswar-Puri Road)  in protest, and went on to prove that the news report by Dash on the NAC did reflect the truth. Dash, who had sustained fractures and head injuries, was rushed to the hospital for treatment.

Journalists and forums like Media Unity for Freedom of Press (MUFP) demanded immediate arrest of the Pipli NAC chairman and his associates for the dastardly attack, and demanded a quick probe by the Collector. Then MUPF staged a protest in Bhubaneswar,  asking that those responsible for the brutal attack on Dash be booked and punished. But unfortunately, no serious actions have been taken to punish the culprits by the police and administration, although a year has already passed.

Dash avers, “Police didn’t take any action to arrest the culprits on my complain. The attackers are free to move around now, ever since they’ve got anticipatory bail from the court. Police inaction helped the culprits get ample time to get bail.”

Similarly, Akhand, the correspondent of  news channel Kanak TV in Pipli in Puri district, was brutally attacked by Pravakar Behera, leader of the ruling BJD, because he had brought into the open the latter’s illicit timber trade, especially when a highly valuable and  ancient tree fell prey to his avarice. Behera attempted to murder Akhand on June 9, 2010, but the police has been sleeping over the FIR filed by Akhand ever since.

Akhand reacts: “Pipli police did not take any action in this case. On the contrary, officials in the police station  intentionally gave an opportunity to the accused to escape. Then I filed a petition in the Odisha High Court against police inaction. The High Court in turn ordered the police to arrest the culprit. But by then, the accused had got bail  and has been moving about freely.”