Nabarangpur: Senior Congress leader and former Nabarangpur MP Pradeep Mahji on Thursday preferred violence during the 12-hour bandh protesting police inaction in connection with alleged gang rape and murder of a minor girl in Kosagumuda area on December 14.
During the shutdown, Majhi was seen in the district headquarter town here telling the Congress workers to get ready with petrol and diesel and set ablaze everything after his direction, may what come.
“Keep petrol and diesel ready. The moment you get a direction, set everything on fire. We’ll see what happens next,” Majhi was caught on camera, while talking to someone over phone.
In a related development, a four-wheeler was set on fire by some miscreants near Ambedkar Chakk in the town. It was suspected that the vehicle was torched after Majhi’s call.
Later speaking to Kalinga TV, Majhi said that people had no choice but to take law in their hands to seek justice for women in the tribal dominant district.
“First a minor girl of Kundali in Koraput district was gang raped by security personnel. Now, another minor girl was gang raped and killed in Nabarangpur. So much so, post-mortem of the deceased was not revealed even after 13 days have been passed. We can’t keep mum over repeated atrocities to our sister and mother,” said Majhi.
“Mahatma Gandhi is our God. We always follow Gandhian philosophy of truth and non-violence. Many a times, we staged peaceful protest to press our demand before the State government. But, we have been denied justice time and again,” the Congress leader added saying that we are now forced to choose violent act to seek justice.
Today, business establishments and shops remained closed here while traffic on roads and highway came to a grinding halt due to the dawn to dusk bandh.
Notably, the body of a 16-year-old girl was found behind a bush near a paddy field in Gumandali village under Kosagumuda police limits on December 14.
The parents of the girl however alleged that their daughter was raped and murdered by miscreant(s). They lodged a complaint at Kosagumuda police station in this connection but no one was arrested so far.
Ms Kalinga