A delegation of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Monday urged the state commission for women to initiate an inquiry against Nilagiri BJP MLA Santosh Khatua for allegedly making derogatory remarks against a senior woman leader of the party.

The delegation demanded immediate police action on the FIR lodged in the matter and called for the MLA’s arrest.

The BJD leaders alleged that Khatua had used “extremely derogatory, sexually coloured, abusive and unspeakable” language against the party’s senior leader Lekhasri Samantsinghar.

In a complaint to the commission, Samantsinghar recounted that the incident took place on July 2 during a media conference held at the BJD office in Balasore, where she, along with Balasore BJD president Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi and former Nilagiri MLA Sukanta Nayak, raised concerns about an alleged elephant poaching incident at Telipal village.

She said: “The involvement of Santosh Khatua, MLA Nilagiri in the said poaching incident was mentioned purely based on newspaper reports, various audio clips and the fact that three out of the four culprits were arrested from the farmhouse of Khatua.”

Samantsinghar, in her complaint to the commission, wrote: “Within an hour of our press conference, Khatua called a group of mediapersons at his farmhouse in Nilagiri and, without replying to or rebutting our charges, started abusing me straight away in the filthiest language possible. Completely bypassing the issue raised, he started hurling a barrage of abuses at me regarding my character and behaviour.”

The leader said: “He used such derogatory, demeaning and sexist remarks that it is not possible to mention it here...”

She said the remarks were a direct consequence of her raising questions at the media conference in accordance with party directions. “Instead of countering it with facts and figures, Khatua chose the easiest way of shutting down the voice of a woman politician — by branding her a prostitute. His filthy and misogynistic way of portraying women is a gross violation of the law of the land and amounts to outraging the modesty of a woman,” she added.

In the absence of the commission’s chairperson, the delegation submitted a memorandum to the
officials present.

They also highlighted that the chairperson’s post has been vacant for over a year, which they said reflected poorly on the state government’s priorities and the BJP’s attitude towards women.

The BJD demanded that the commission take suo motu cognisance of offences involving women.

Repeated attempts to contact MLA Khatua for his comments went unanswered.

Naveen discharged

Biju Janata Dal leader and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who underwent a surgery for cervical arthritis in Mumbai, was discharged from the hospital on Monday.

The Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Odisha Assembly underwent the medical procedure on June 22 at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai.

Naveen’s personal physician and eminent cardio surgeon, Dr Ramakant Panda, supervised the entire operation.

The surgery was conducted by renowned orthopaedic surgeon and chairman of Ganga Medical Centre and Hospitals in Coimbatore, Dr S Rajasekaran.

Sources said that he would remain in Mumbai under medical supervision for a few more days.

In the absence of Patnaik, the BJD’s 15-member committee led by vice-president Debi Mishra is looking after the party affairs.