‘Arrest Gajbhiye’ cry gets shriller across Odisha

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Aug 10:

The demand for the arrest and dismissal of former Kendrapara SP Satish Gajbhiye intensified today with the BJP beginning its campaign of registering FIRs in all 550 police stations of the state and All Odisha Lawyers Association boycotting courts across the state.

The Congress chipped in gheraoing the Kendrapara collector’s office demanding the arrest of Gajbhiye. “We have  submitted a memorandum asking for his arrest. The government should act against this man who does not have any respect for the Rule of Law,” said Dharanidhar Nayak, the head of the party’s legal cell.

BJP workers are staging dharna in front of all police stations across the state and are registering FIRs against Gajbhiye, reports said. BJP activists have already filed FIRs at different police stations across the state, including Malgodown and police stations in Cuttack city, several police stations of Bhadrak, Nayagarh, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Brahmapur, Bhubaneswar and Puri.

Lawyers boycotted courts across the state in response to a call given by All Odisha Lawyers Association to press for the arrest and dismissal of Gajbhiye for his excesses on protestors in Kendrapara and a lawyer Duryodhan Sahu in particular who was the BJP’s Kendrapara district president. The High Court Bar Association has extended its support to the lawyers’ agitation and has abstained from joining court.

An eight member fact-finding team of the High Court Bar Association visited Kendrapara and held a meeting with members of the Bar at Kendrapara today. It was decided at the meeting that the two lawyers, who were victims of the excesses by Gajbhiye, will file two separate cases against him in the Kendrapara court. The team will place its report at a meeting of the High Court Bar Association to be held at 3.30 PM today at Cuttack to discuss its future course of action in the matter.

“He (Gajbhiye) has no right to stay in a civilised society and should be dispatched to Taliban territory in  Afghanistan. He would soon realise who he has taken on,” said Ashok Mohapatra, President of the High Court Bar Association and head of the delegation.

Meanwhile, BJD spokesperson and Nimapara MLA Samir Das today denied charges that the government was protecting Gjabhiye.

“As you know, action has already been initiated against him. He has been shifted to the police headquarters as officer without duty. You can make your own inference from that. Further action will be taken against him at the right time,” he said.

Disapproving Gajbhiye Facebook post, which has now been removed, the BJD spokesperson it constituted a violation of the service code of conduct. “He has obviously realised it and that is why he has now removed the post,” Dash said denying any BJD link with Sarathi Baba.

BJD MLA Debasish Samantaray today condemned the Facebook postings of Gajbhiye saying it was ‘condemnable’.