Odisha bandh today
Bhubaneswar: Eight Opposition parties, led by the Congress, observed an ‘Odisha Bandh’ Thursday to protest the alleged harassment and death of Soumyashree Bisi, a 20-year-old student of FM Autonomous College in Balasore. Bisi had attempted self-immolation on the campus Saturday over alleged inaction and later succumbed to burn injuries at AIIMS Bhubaneswar Monday.
State Congress president Bhakta Charan Das Tuesday announced a bandh call, demanding a judicial inquiry into the incident. Senior Congress leader Jayadev Jena said it will be observed peacefully across the state from 6am to 6pm. Jena appealed to all people of Odisha to support the bandh to provide justice to the deceased college student. Das, through a video message, informed that all the private and government bus and truck services will be halted. Train services will also be affected during the bandh. Besides, all the government and private educational institutions will be closed. Banks, government and private offices will be closed too. Shops have also been requested to keep the shutters down. Only emergency services will be allowed during the bandh.
Meanwhile, several BJD workers and leaders, including two former ministers, were injured in a scuffle with police personnel here Wednesday during the principal Opposition party’s protest rally. The BJD’s demonstration turned violent near the Lower PMG Square when its workers and leaders breached a barricade to march towards the state secretariat, Lok Seva Bhavan, and clashed with the police personnel, an officer said. The police used water cannons and fired tear gas shells to disperse the agitating BJD workers, he said. However, the injured BJD leaders claimed that they were hit by rubber bullets, an allegation dismissed by the police. “The allegation is untrue. The police used water cannons and tear gas shells to disperse the protesters. There was no use of rubber bullets as alleged,” Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena said. BJD president and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Naveen Patnaik, on the other hand, strongly condemned the police “excess” and described the action as “barbaric and inhuman”. He said such brutality on peaceful protesters is not acceptable. Taking to X, Patnaik said, “The right to democratic protest is under grave threat in #Odisha. Today, the @ bjd_odisha exercised its constitutional right to hold a peaceful demonstration, protesting the tragic death of a 20-year-old girl student — a victim of systemic apathy and sheer betrayal.”
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