Bhubaneswar: In a significant development, the Orissa High Court today directed the Odisha government’s Home Department to submit a status report on the Dhinkia issue.
The next hearing in the matter has been scheduled for January 27.
It is pertinent to mention here that two separate petitions have been filed in the High Court seeking an independent and impartial probe into the police excesses on the locals at Dhinkia village under Erasama block in Jagatsinghpur district during land acquisition for the proposed JSW project.
While one of the petitions has been filed by the local residents of Dhinkia, another has been filed by three well-known lawyers of the High Court.
A division bench of the High Court comprising of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice RK Patnaik while conducting a hearing on the PIL filed by one Kuni Mallick and four others seeking a probe by a committee comprising of a retired Judge of the High Court, social activists and members of the civil society into the police atrocities committed on the residents of Dhinkia, directed the State government to file its counter in the matter.
In the PIL it has been cited that police and local administration without listening to local residents resorted to excesses on them during measurement of betel vine plantations at Dhinkia on January 14 last.
The petitioner has alleged that police had resorted to lathicharge on the villagers. Even kids and women were not spared. Several villagers were injured in the incident.
Even innocent villagers were subjected to torture while in police custody. After the incident, Dhinkia and its nearby areas were nothing short of a police camp.
The injured were not provided with medical treatment. Restrictions were imposed on the movement of the general public.
The PIL has sought an inquiry into the incident by a committee headed by a retired Judge of the High Court, treatment of the injured, compensation to the victims, strong action as per law against the guilty policemen, and withdrawal of police forces from Dhinkia and its surroundings.
