Bhubaneswar: Soon after being forced by the newly elected local MLA to do sit-ups in full public view, the hapless junior engineer of Odisha’s public works department was allegedly abducted by the MLA’s supporters, who kept him under house arrest for over 24 hours.
The public humiliation meted out to Jayakant Sabar, the engineer who hails from a community of Scheduled Tribes, by the ruling BJD legislator from Patnagarh in Balangir district, Saroj Meher, has sparked anger among the tribal people in western Odisha.
Meher, a first-time MLA who also happens to be the third richest legislator in the eastern state, had forced Sabar to do sit-ups in full public view on Wednesday after blaming him for the low quality of an under-construction road. Video clips of the act, which took place at Gambhari village in Belpada block, had gone viral on the social media, drawing widespread condemnation.
Sabar was also slapped on the cheek by the executive engineer of the public works department, Raghunath Mishra, on the instructions of the MLA. Sabar said Mishra obeyed the MLA’s order in an apparent attempt to prevent the mob from turning violent.
Immediately after the incident, Sabar was taken away by the MLA’s supporters to a house at Tikhali Dam at Khariar, where he was held in confinement till Thursday midnight. “The MLA’s men asked me to accompany them to Khariar and I had no other options at the time,” said Sabar.
While Patnagarh sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Suresh Kumar Nayak said police rescued Sabar at Kantabanji, Sabar told News18 that he was released from the confinement by the MLA at Khariar.
“The MLA brought me from Khariar to Belpada police station in his car. Some policemen then brought me from the police station to Patnagarh,” said Sabar. “The MLA told me that such acts as what happened with me are common for political leaders and that I should not take it to heart,” he added.
The SDPO said police ‘rescued Sabar from near Kantabanji’ after getting a written complaint from the engineer’s wife, Prabina Rajhansh, that her husband had been missing after the sit-up incident took place.
“We rescued him and handed him over to his wife. A case has been registered in connection with the whole matter (sit-ups and alleged abduction) under sections of IPC and the SC-ST Act and a probe is on,” said the SDPO to News18.
The difference in the versions of the police official and the victim about the “rescue” has sparked outrage across Odisha, prompting many to accuse police of shielding the MLA.
“The manner in which a tribal government engineer was tortured by a ruling party MLA makes it clear that governance in Odisha under the BJD regime will not follow democratic norms. Their governance will rather be in the style of the kangaroo courts of the Maoists,” said state BJP general secretary Lekhasri Samantsinghar, demanding Meher’s immediate arrest.
Meher, who apologised for forcing the engineer to do sit-ups, declined to comment on the allegations of abduction.
With inputs from Chandrabhanu Molana
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