Police and protesters clash at the Posco area in Odisha’s Gobindpur village. Telegraph picture

Paradip, March 8: Jagatsinghpur police have initiated legal action against a group of women anti-Posco activists after finding them guilty of obscenity during a clash with cops at Gobindpur village under the proposed steel project area.

A calm prevailed today in the villages of Gobindpur, Patana and Dhinkia, where there has been a breach of peace in the recent past.

“Legal action has been initiated against three women activists of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samity (PPSS) who stripped during yesterday’s protest rally. We have identified them. Cases have been registered under section 294 (a), criminal law amendment act (public display of obscenity). Besides, cases under section 353, 148 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code have also been registered against them and other protesters,” said Jagatsinghpur superintendent of police Satyabrata Bhoi.

Bhoi said the women did not protest on their own accord and had been instigated by leaders of PPSS. “Police have taken a serious note of such form of protest. As it is a cognisable offence under the Indian Penal Code, cases had to be registered against those who stripped and those who provoked them to do so.”

In a related development, local residents, mostly consisting of women, staged a rally at Gobindpur and Badabagapur transit colony to protest against the stripping incident. Jyotsnarani Mohanty, a resident of Posco transit colony, condemned the incident and said it “degraded” the image of people living in the Posco project area.

Yesterday afternoon, a mob of over 500 women owing allegiance to PPSS tried to attack the police camp at Gobindpur. Police retaliated in self-defence and resorted to wield batons to control the mob. About a dozen women protesters, who were demanding the relocation of police camp from the place, were injured. An equal number of protesters were hurt as a stampede ensued.

Though police denied any use of force, the PPSS countered the version. “Brute force was used on the women agitating peacefully. Without any prior provocation, the cops went on a rampage and wielded batons. In protest, some of the women activists had stripped,” PPSS chief Abhaya Sahu said.

Sahu said a group of New Delhi-based rights activists would visit the project site tomorrow to inquire into the “barbaric” and “uncivilised” act of the police. The agitation against the mega steel venture would go on democratically till the company beats a retreat from the place.

“The resistance movement against Posco has become enfeebled and its base is eroding on a daily basis. Those heading the movement have become desperate, as the agitation has failed to garner support of late. The act of stripping proves that. As the government has already decided to exclude Gobindpur from the project land acquisition, there is no justification for such an act,” said district collector Satya Kumar Mallick.