Bhubaneswar: Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Naveen Patnaik on Friday strongly condemned the lynching of a young man in broad daylight at Balianta on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, describing the incident as ‘utterly barbaric’.
In a strongly-worded statement, Patnaik expressed shock over the state government’s silence following the gruesome killing. “The incident in Balianta, where a young man was beaten to death in broad daylight, is utterly barbaric. Even as such a heinous event unfolds near the state capital, the government’s inexplicable silence is shocking the people of the state,” Patnaik said.
He further questioned the effectiveness of the law and order machinery, asking: “If such incidents are occurring in the presence of police, whom will people turn to for protection? Why is the police administration and the government so helpless before criminals?”
Patnaik also drew attention to the larger law and order situation in the state. “If the government is incapable of preventing such incidents in the suburbs of Bhubaneswar, then the scenario of the entire Odisha is clearly imaginable,” he remarked. He referred to recent violent incidents in Hinjili, Kanasa, and Dhenkanal, questioning what exemplary action the government had taken in those cases.
The former Chief Minister warned that a government cannot run on ‘grand speeches’ and “empty bombast” and urged the administration to immediately take strict measures to restore people’s safety and maintain law and order in the state.
It may be mentioned that the incident occurred on Thursday afternoon in the Bhingarapur area under Balianta police station limits. Two youths on a motorcycle allegedly collided with a scooter carrying two women, leading to a heated argument. The women accused the youths of attempting to sexually assault them. Local residents rushed to the spot upon hearing the commotion, overpowered the two youths, tied them with bamboo sticks, and brutally assaulted them. One of the victims, Soumya Ranjan Swain (32), a constable with the Government Railway Police (GRP) from the Adaspur area in Cuttack, succumbed to his injuries at Capital Hospital.
The second youth, Om Prakash Rout, remains critically injured and is undergoing treatment.
