TNI Bureau: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) today gheraoed the Balanga police station in Puri district demanding justice for the minor burn victim and immediate arrest of the accused persons.

Hundreds of BJD workers and leaders including Rajashree Mallick, Lekhashree Samanta Singhar, Tukuni Sahu, Pradeep Majhi, Subhashish Khuntia, Rudra Pratap Maharathy, reached the police station in a procession under the leadership of party’s Puri district president Umakanta Samantaray.

Police waylaid them while they were attempting to further move towards the police station following which they sat on a demonstration demanding immediate identification and arrest of the accused persons. Besides, they demanded the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida, as Balanga comes under her assembly constituency.

The protesters alleged that not only in Balanga, women are unsafe in the entire state. Every day, harassment, rape and sexual assault cases are being reported across the state. While many such incidents, especially in the last few months, have occurred, police administration is keeping quiet, just claiming that the probe is underway. Cops are working as directed by the BJP party, which has completely failed to protect the women of the state, they alleged.

The BJD workers and leaders also burnt the effigies of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida and Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj.

Later, they submitted a memorandum to the police officers addressing Odisha Governor and gave an ultimatum of 48 hours to the police to identify and arrest the real accused persons, if not they threatened to block the Puri-Bhubaneswar National Highway.