JAGATSINGHPUR: A peace committee has been formed by heads of Japa and Kunjkothi panchayats to bring normalcy in Kalikuda village where a Dalit woman and five others were assaulted for trying to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Panchayat Samiti chairman Pranab Prakash Swain conducted a meeting in Kunjkothi panchayat to restore normalcy among the warring groups of villagers over cashew nut orchards on a government land. He said the committee will meet the RDC (central) to seek his intervention into the case. The meeting, however, was not attended by the Dalit woman, Parbati Sasmal, and five other villagers who had supported her.
Earlier, the BJP leaders had alleged that Japa panchayat Sarpanch Tapan Gochayat and Kunjkothi panchayat Sarpanch’s relative Bishnu Charan Swain hired goons to attack the woman Parbati and villagers Niranjan Swain, Pinu Swain, Dukhiram Sasamal, Jamuna Mandal and Basanti Jena for trying to hand over a letter to the Prime Minister during his visit to Odisha over harassment being meted out to her in the village. She was being harassed for grazing livestock in the cashew plantation.