Bhubaneswar: At least seven journalists sustained injuries after they were allegedly assaulted by the police during the annual Ratha Jatra at Odisha’s Puri town today.

The Opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has condemned the incident and sought immediate action against the police personnel involved in the incident.

As per the reports, the Information and Public Relations (I&PR) Department of the state government facilitated the visit of altogether 52 working journalists to Puri to cover the Ratha Jatra.

The I&PR Department arranged an OTDC bus for the journalists and issued special passes to them to cover the annual festival.

Upon their arrival at Puri, the journalists were denied permission by the police to reach the designated place on the Grand Road to cover the mega event.

The cops allegedly misbehaved with the journalists and even assaulted them even though they produced their passes. Senior journalist Ramesh Mohanty reportedly fell down and some others, including veteran scribe Prabhu Kalyan Mahapatra, Pradyumna Kumar Mohanty, Sanat Mishra, Haraprasad Das and woman journo Vijayita Tripathy, sustained injuries in the incident.

The injured journalists were immediately rushed to a makeshift health centre near the Grand Road. The woman journalist reportedly received 20 stiches on her hand.

The journalists, meanwhile, urged Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to intervene into the issue and take stern action against the police officials involved in the incident.

“The BJD strongly condemns such inhuman behaviour towards the working journalists. The Chief Minister should intervene into the issue and take appropriate action against the concerned police personnel,” said party spokesperson Lenin Mohanty.