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| Damodar Rout |
Paradip, May 3: The alleged anti-Dalit remark by agriculture minister Damodar Rout has come under the National Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Commission (NSCSTC)’s scanner.
Responding to the allegations that the police acted in a partisan manner to cover up the commission of offence by Rout, the national panel has directed the superintendent of police, Jagatsinghpur to submit its clarifications.
“The police have acted in a non-partisan way while taking up investigation of the case. A case was registered against Rout within a week after he had purportedly made the objectionable remarks. Police would duly apprise the national panel of the investigation process,” said S. Devidatta Singh, superintendent of police, Jagatsinghpur.
Rout, at a public meeting at Kujang in Jagatsinghpur district on August 18 last year, had allegedly made casteist remarks against a government official, Jagatsinghpur MLA and MP. An FIR was lodged against Rout after five days. The police had registered a criminal case against Rout under the Scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989.
The complainants — Manoj Bhoi and Rabi Dalei — had accused Rout of using “casteist remarks” against local MP Bibhu Prasad Tarai, MLA Bishnu Charan Das and Jagatsinghpur additional district magistrate Upendra Mallick at a public meeting.
On April 5, the minister had surrendered in a local court and secured bail in the case. Following the directives of Orissa High Court, the minister presented himself before the Kujang judicial magistrate first class (JMFC).
Complainant Manoj Bhoi sought the NSCSTC’s intervention while alleging that the case had been handled in a half-hearted way by police allowing the minister to secure bail in the court. Despite the grave nature of the offence, the police preferred to sit over the matter after registering the case. Investigation done by the police was lopsided and tilted in favour of the BJD minister, the petition stated.
In another development, Rout’s political rivals in the district have seized the opportunity to seek his removal from Naveen Patnaik’s government. Interestingly, local MLA Bishnu Charan Das, who has been eyeing for a ministerial berth, is in the forefront of the agitation against Rout.
