Bhubaneswar: Biju Chhatra Janata Dal (BCJD) president Ipsita Sahoo was picked up by police from the Rama Devi Women’s University campus in Bhubaneswar on Thursday while voting for the student union elections was underway.
Her detention triggered tension on the university campus as her supporters and workers of BCJD, the student wing of BJD, staged a protest, opposing the police action.
A large crowd of students, supporters and media persons had gathered near the university gate when police personnel were seen restraining Sahoo. Officers physically held and escorted her toward a police vehicle amid the gathering. Sahoo appeared agitated and was heard raising slogans as she was being moved.
Reacting to her detention, Sahoo alleged that the police were attempting to suppress the voices of students across Odisha, including those at Rama Devi Women’s University.
Sahoo further claimed that she was illegally detained out of fear that Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) would lose the election. “Stop police high-handedness and stop the murder of democracy,” she said.
Sahoo said that the student community would respond to the suppression through democratic means.
According to information, a complaint was lodged at Saheed Nagar Police Station in the city alleging that Sahoo misbehaved and was involved in a scuffle with the ABVP presidential candidate and some other girl students. However, it is not immediately clear whether she was picked up in connection with that complaint or for some other reason.
It was alleged that the presidential candidate for Rama Devi Women’s University election and three other girl students had gone to a hostel in the morning to meet a sick sister when Ipsita Sahoo and BCJD presidential candidate abused them in filthy language, misbehaved with them and indulged in a scuffle.