Odisha dalit body demands action against cops

Reported by Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, June 10:

Members of the National Confederation of Dalit Organisation (NCDO), Odisha today urged the Director General of Police (DGP) to take immediate action against some police officers of the Commissionerate Police (CP) for misbehaving with a dalit family in the city and casting aspersions on their caste status.

Talking to newsmen here, the NCDO state president Ashok Kumar Mallick alleged that an Inspector of the special squad of the CP and one of his associates had assaulted a dalit youth Manas Nayak while he was returning home with his family after attending a dalit rally at the Lower PMG here on June 6.

Mallick further alleged that these two police officers also scolded Nayak’s mother and his family members when they protested the police assault.

The police officers allegedly visited the victim’s house late at night on the following day and scolded the family members of the victim without any valid reason and took the name of their caste in a derogatory manner, he added.

The NCDO also raised the issue of inaction of the police in arresting the accused who allegedly raped a dalit woman of Pahanga village under the Niali police limits in Cuttack district.

Members of the organisation demanded compensation of Rs 20 lakh to the rape victim.