TNI Bureau: An Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) reportedly beat up three local journalists yesterday in the Papadahandi PS premises in Odisha’s Nabarangpur district with a long plastic pipe.
The journalists had gone there to gather information about a woman who was apprehended by the cops in the district’s Maidalpur locality over a love affair. ASP Jayakrushna Behera was identified as the senior officer accused of manhandling the scribes.
Prabin Kumar Shatnami and two others have been identified as the scribes who were assaulted by the Senior Cop. The aggrieved journalists claimed that despite revealing their identities, the senior police official did not spare them. The ASP also allegedly assaulted a woman named Lizarani Patnaik, who was present.
Later, a group of journalists from the fraternity, along with the family of the victim, Lizarani, staged a sit-in on the spot to protest the police excess and unfriendly attitude toward the public. After learning about the police abuse, Odisha Union of Journalists (OUJ) district unit president Sushant Behera joined the protest, which was still going on at the time of publication.
The incident has triggered massive outrage and journalists from across the district have joined the agitators calling for immediate action against the cop. The Media Care and its founder Bhakta Tripathy has also demanded strong action against the ASP and security and justice to the journalists.