Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Human Rights Commission, Monday, summoned the district administration of Puri for personal appearance if they fail to comply with the recommendations regarding rehabilitation of some scheduled caste families who were evicted by villagers forcefully July 23, 2018. The member of the commission who asked the Puri Collector and Superintendent of Police to rehabilitate the victim families immediately had earlier expressed its annoyance over the non compliance of its previous order June 6, 2019.
The two accused and four families of the schedule caste category were at loggerheads with each other for the past several years over disputes in connection with a landed property in Nuagaon village in Puri. They have been fighting a civil suit in local court that has ordered status quo on the land.
However, the dispute between both the groups escalated when the accused persons started construction work on the disputed property despite the status quo orders. They, in connivance with the villagers, later destroyed the victims’ houses and forcefully evicted them out of the village.
Subsequently, human rights activists, SP Mallick and PK Nayak, approached the OHRC seeking justice for the families as police did not take any action against the culprits. The commission later sought an enquiry report into the allegations raised by the activists in their application from the district SP. The SP, in his report, mentioned that after enquiry the allegations were found to be true and the cops arrested ten accused after a case was registered on the basis of a complaint lodged by one of the victims, Sukanta Sethi.
The SP also informed the commission that the four families have been kept in a cyclone shelter at the nearby village and the Block Development Officer (BDO) of Brahmagiri has been looking after the families.
The commission subsequently directed the Puri district Magistrate and SP to reconstruct the houses of the victims at their village and provide them with security for them to resettle in the village without fear.
However, the authorities have reportedly not taken action in this regard despite a reminder sent by the commission August 16, 2019.