BHUBANESWAR: Green activist Prafulla Samantara, along with fellow rights campaigners, on Friday protested against the alleged police high-handedness and atrocities on people opposing the setting up of a steel plant in Dhinkia area of Jagatsinghpur district.
At a press conference here on Friday, the activists alleged that police have implicated agitating villagers, including their leader Debendra Swain, in false cases. “Many people of the locality had submitted affidavits before the high court about their issues. The police have started targeting all such people,” Samantara alleged.
The activist said the police have registered 26 false cases against Debendra Swain, leader of the anti-steel plant movement. His family members cannot meet him him in jail. The police are harassing and arresting his family members and others who have supported the movement, he alleged
The activists demanded the unconditional release of innocent villagers from jail and withdrawal of false cases against them. “We want the state government to withdraw the police camp from Dhinkia area and stop the setting up of the industry there as it poses a threat to the environment,” Samantara said.
