Press mauled in Orissa by medicos over report of alleged gang-rape of medical student

The press is being severely mauled in Orissa. Following a string of attacks on pressmen over the past few months, on March 9 in Cuttack, a band of medicos attacked the offices of three Oriya language dailies,Samaj, Prajatantra, andMatrubhumi.The rowdies beat up journalists, and reduced furniture to debris. The immediate provocation was reportedly the "false news" circulated by the news agency Hindustan Samachar, about the alleged gang-rape of a Manipuri medical student."The report was no doubt baseless - a case of mistaken identity. But the attack on the press was equally uncalled for," said a reporter, pointing out that one of the newspapers had already published a contradiction while the other two were awaiting clarification from the news agency. But the students were determined on revenge and the police, notorious for their antipathy to the press and pressmen, were allegedly willing partners in the attack. The police apathy was hot without reasons, as only a day before the assault Prajatantra had criticised the district police.Commenting on the attack, and the overall law and order situation, Radhanath Ruth, editor of the largely circulated Samaj, said: "It is no use making a public complaint. Absolute lawlessness is spreading in this state which was once a model of peace."The March 9 assault was not the first, according to Ruth. On November 28, 1979 another group of local college students had attacked Samaj offices because their photographs had not been published. Until now the police had done nothing.In protest against the attack, the newspapers ceased work for the day on March 11 - the day the state budget was presented to the Assembly. The stoppage drew little sympathy from the Government, and Chief Minister Janaki Ballav Patnaik, himself a journalist once, while condemning the attack and assuring measures to check the recurrence of such incidents, added insult to injury by his reported remark that the students' action was justified in view of the irresponsible reporting.Criminal Den: According to a local English weekly, the Eastern Times, the police support the chief minister. The weekly said: that at the recently held annual conference of Indian Police Service officers of Orissa, Inspector-General of Police N. Swain expressed his annoyance at "some local newspapers criticising and denigrating the police".J. B. Patnaik: Adding insult to injuryCommented the weekly, "If some of them (newspapers) have erred at all, they have done so in not having traced the cause of police misbehaviour to its source, the party in power which has been using the police in the most blatantly illegal manner to get out of tight corners. Any number of examples can be picked up at random from the past few months."Cuttack, an old city famous for its filigree arts, has turned into a den of criminals operating as political activists, with the massive police headquarters engaged in self-destructive internal politics. Even a ruling Congress(I) member said in the Assembly that law and order in the city were at the mercy of anti-social elements, with people fearing to move out after sunset. Newspapers trying to highlight the situation were made to face the wrath of storm-troopers.Senior journalists in Orissa affirm that as many as eight journalists trying to expose police misdeeds have been assaulted and humiliated, the latest being Jatadhari Rana of the Samaj (India Today, March 16-31). Said an opposition leader: "A government that cannot provide security for the people cannot also ensure them bread whatever its pious intentions."The law and order situation has touched a new nadir in Orissa with the crime graph maintaining its upward leap. State Home Secretary R.N. Das said that "there is no serious law and order situation in the state; these are only ripples." But official statistics in the draft white paper on the police department revealed an increase of 8,000 cognisable offences over the past year - 50,059 in 1980 as against 42,000 in 1979.Most of these were attributed to the students' agitation in the western districts. Last year 485 murders, 402 dacoities, 766 robberies, 7,518 burglaries, 15,133 thefts and 2,153 riots were reported. Of the dacoities, according to Das, 107 were only "technical" in nature, as they happened in the course of agitations. He asserts that 62 per cent of the cases were solved.Corruption: Authorities attribute the rising crime graph to the vast unemployment. Only a few months ago Swain, probably referring to the country as a whole, remarked that Orissa was not an island. But the police seem to be making things worse. Swain: Averse to criticismDas admits that nine police personnel have been sacked on charges of indiscipline. Things are going from bad to worse: recently the policemen's federation threatened to launch an agitation if demands for rationalisation of pay were not conceded.Patnaik is also beset with the twin problems of alleged corruption among his colleagues and dissatisfaction among a section of the ruling party, mostly members of Parliament. Among the corruption charges is the reported mining lease in favour of Orissa's Minister of State for Power Niranjan Patnaik.The minister said that the three mining areas he was operating were granted to him by previous governments. He asserted: "Holding a mining lease does not disqualify me from becoming a member of the Assembly." There were many instances of mining leaseholders being chief ministers, Union ministers, legislators and MPs, he claimed,But the most serious charge is that of waiving the enhanced cess in favour of big business houses to the tune of Rs 6 crore, though Mines Minister Basan Kumar Biswal denied that such a heavy amount was involved. Lok Dal leader Damodar Rout alleges that at least Rs 50 lakh had changed hands in this deal.Yet another charge is with regard to contracts for the transporting and loading of iron from the Khasdar mines of the state-owned mining corporation. Also, a chemical plant in Ganjam district was recently granted a liberal concession to clear Rs 7 crore worth of dues in 40 instalments in as many years.The only silver lining for Patnaik's Ministry is that the dissident movement has weakened. Only a few MPs oppose him now, and they have little following among the legislators. According to political sources these MPs are angry because the chief minister had not allowed them to lobby for the state in New Delhi and Bhubaneswar.The storm cloud is still there, though. The continuing attacks on the press, a disorderly and brutalised police force, and increasing instances of corruption all point to a weak-kneed administration, which appears to be doing everything to ensure that this state of affairs will continue for quite some time to come.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 25, 2013 09:45 IST--- ENDS ---

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Press mauled in Orissa by medicos over report of alleged gang-rape of medical student

The press is being severely mauled in Orissa. Following a string of attacks on pressmen over the past few months, on March 9 in Cuttack, a band of medicos attacked the offices of three Oriya language dailies, Samaj, Prajatantra, and Matrubhumi.

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