Bhubaneswar: After maintaining a silence for over 10 days, Minister of State for Home, Dibya Shankar Mishra today said that he would resign from the post of Minister and also quit public life if an iota of evidence is found against him in the Mamita Meher case.
Mishra urged political parties and the media to go to the police or court if there is an iota of evidence against him, else refrain from the smear campaign.
The Minister of State for Home further said “in case of sensitive and heinous offences, the law enforcement agencies should act in a free and fair manner so that the accused meets the ends of justice”. “Hence, I always avoided commenting on heinous offences. But I felt the need to give a statement as this smear campaign has been affecting my family.”
Mishra said he was deeply saddened and anguished by the unfortunate death of Mamita and the guilty must be given the strictest punishment. “I am a father and I can understand the trauma the family must be going through,” he said.
Mishra, an Indian Air Force veteran said for him life of civilians come first. “My philosophy remained the same when I joined politics. I may suffer, but not even a single person should suffer,” he stated.
“I am shocked by the manner in which certain media have launched a malicious character assassination campaign based on falsehood against me. This has also hurt my family,” he added.
The Minister added that his family has filed criminal and civil defamation case against three media groups “for defaming and character assassination with false, and malicious allegations for furthering their narrow personal and political gains”.
“As an MLA, as well as an ex-IAF officer, I have attended functions at many educational institutions. In fact, public representatives are supposed to attend functions in educational institutions. Therefore, a crime happening in any one of the institutions that I have visited as a guest for functions cannot be attributed to me,” the Minister said.
