Cuttack, March 8: Police today seized the Netaji Birthplace Museum's visitors' book, in which abusive language had been used while referring to the country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
The closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage at the museum was also obtained as part of police investigation.
While making a remark in the visitors' book on Sunday, one Pramod Ranjan Dey, 35, a central government employee, had used offensive language about Nehru and blamed him for the plight of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
A case was registered at Dargha Bazar police station for use of indecent language on the basis of a complaint lodged by Congress councillor of ward No 18 Arun Kumar Sethi.
"Today, we seized the visitors' book, along with CCTV footage from 3pm to 4pm on Sunday. The accused, Pramod Ranjan Dey, will be served notice at the address mentioned by him in the visitors' book, as part of subsequent investigation," inspector-in-charge Anil Kumar Beuria told The Telegraph today.
Lawyers said the abusive comment about Nehru in the visitors' book was unjustifiable. "As the offence involves using indecent language for a freedom fighter and historically respected person, the accused, who is a central government employee, is liable to face departmental disciplinary proceedings," said Sarbeswar Behera, central government counsel at the Central Administrative Tribunal.
Orissa High Court advocate Dilip Mohapatra said: "Article 19 of our Constitution undoubtedly guarantees complete freedom of speech and expression, but it also makes an exception in favour of existing laws - which impose restrictions on the exercise of the right in the interest of public decency or morality."
"It is unfortunate that such a comment was written in the visitors' book. We will take steps to ensure detection and timely deletion of such unwarranted comments in future," museum trust secretary Sanghamitra Satpathy said.
The controversy flared up after Congress leader Jairam Ramesh spotted the abusive remark on Nehru when he was writing in the visitors' book after visiting the museum around 4pm on Sunday.
