BHUBANESWAR: Members of the Biju Mahila Janata Dal (BMJD) on Thursday took out a protest rally in the capital city demanding arrest of BJP MLA Santosh Khatua for making obscene remarks against senior party leader Lekhashree Samantasinghar.
The BMJD members took out the rally from Rajmahal Square to Master Canteen Square and burnt the effigy of the BJP MLA as a mark of protest. Addressing a meeting, several members targeted the state government and the police for not taking any action against Khatua even after seven days of the incident.
Later in the day, a delegation of the BMJD leaders including Opposition chief whip Pramila Mallik and Samantasinghar submitted a memorandum to DGP YB Khurania at his camp office here and demanded that sections 54 (use of criminal force against woman) and 351 (criminal intimidation) be included in the FIR against Khatua.
The BMJD leaders further demanded that Khatua be arrested without delay so as to prevent him from tampering with the evidence and influencing witnesses in the poaching and sexual remark case. They claimed that there was a threat to the life of Samantasinghar and her family from individuals associated with Santosh Sena, a group controlled by the BJP MLA to intimidate political opponents.