Cong demands justice for boy killed during BJD youth convention; blocks road

Reported by Santosh Jagdev

Bhubaneswar, Mar 6:

Hundreds of Congress party members on Thursday blocked the Janpath at Rupali Square and Ram Mandir Square here for over two hours this afternoon demanding ‘justice’ for the father of a six-year old child who was killed after a vehicle carrying supporters of Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD) president and Brahmagiri MLA Sanjay Dasburma ran over him yesterday.

Abhay Mallick, member of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) state executive and scheduled caste (SC) cell alleged that instead of rushing him to the hospital, Dasburma’s supporters shoved Rs 1000 into the distressed father’s hands and asked him to take his son, who was in a critical condition, to the Capital Hospital.

Karsa, the son of Bajrangi Mandal, a poor man from Ganeshpur of Bihar, was crushed under the Tata Magic (OD-13-7089) carrying the deputy chief whip’s supporters near the Bhubaneswar Club at about 3.30 pm yesterday while he, along with his family members, was on his way to the BJD youth convention organised to mark Biju Patnaik’s birth anniversary.

Karsa was first rushed to the Capital hospital and then to a private hospital later in the night after his condition deteriorated. He was declared dead today.

“Since yesterday’s convention was Dasburma’s show, it was his foremost duty to come to the aid of the family and provide any assistance required. But neither he nor the government paid any attention to him or provided any assistance to the deceased family. In protest against this gross apathy, we staged a road blockade today. We are demanding that the administration should provide a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family,” Mallick said.

The Congress leader accused the police of trying to cremate the dead child before the autopsy was conducted.

Sources in the Capital Police station, however, denied the allegation. A case has been registered in this regard and investigation was on, they said.

Two platoons of police force were deployed to ease the traffic congestion and to disperse the protesters squatting on the busy road.

Bhubaneswar Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) BN Dandpat, Traffic ACP Binod Das along with the IICs of Capital, Kharavela Nagar, Mancheswar, Chandrasekharpur and Infocity police stations were also present at the spot to prevent the situation from going out of hands.

The agitation was brought under control after Additional DCP Dandpat assured the protesters of immediate assistance of Rs 10,000 from Red Cross fund, besides other assistance to the deceased family later.