Bhubaneswar: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to Odisha’s Director General of Police (DGP) and sought a detailed report on the attack on a journalist in Balangir district recently.
The notice was issued after the NHRC took suo motu cognisance of a media report that a TV journalist was physically assaulted by a group of people at Kulthipali village in Balangir district on May 25, the Commission said in a press release on Friday.
The journalist was suddenly attacked by miscreants when he went to a construction site in the village, regarding which the people are making allegations of corruption. The victim’s legs and hands were tied, and he was paraded through the village before being tied to a pole and mercilessly beaten.
The Commission has observed that the contents of the news report, if true, raise a serious issue of violation of the human rights of the victim journalist.
Therefore, it has issued a notice to the DGP of Odisha, calling for a detailed report in the matter within two weeks.
According to the media report, carried on May 26, the victim’s mobile phones and video camera were also smashed by the perpetrators, and he was threatened not to report anything about the incident or the ongoing construction work to anyone.
It may be noted that five persons, including a minor boy, have been arrested by the police in connection with the brutal attack on the journalist, identified as Bijay Pradhan.
After getting complaints from some locals regarding alleged poor quality of work of a construction project, the journalist had gone to cover the news at the village when he was assaulted. The incident triggered widespread outrage in the state with people demanding arrest and stricter action against the accused persons. The journalists also held protests to press their demand.
