: The Odisha Congress on Monday demanded a judicial inquiry into the police firing in Namtara village of Kendrapara district that left nine villagers critically injured.
Amid reports of simmering tensions in the village on Sunday where women clashed with the police over the demand for shifting the liquor shops, six persons were arrested on Monday.
Three platoons of police personnel have been deployed in the village in order to keep the situation under control.
Women groups, whose repeated demands for shifting the liquor shop at Namtara went unheeded, took out an anti-liquor rally on Sunday.
When they were stopped from picketing the shop, the situation turned violent. Angry women aided by supporters clashed with the police. They damaged the shop and threw hundreds of litres of liquor. Several police personnel were injured. Subsequently, a police jeep was set afire by the mob.
In the evening, when a team of armed police personnel reached the village, they again faced resistance from the villagers. The police fired at the villagers. At least nine persons were injured .
“The liquor shop is situated very close to school and religious structures. Women groups had been demanding that the shop be moved. They had even lodged a complaint at Collector’s Grievance Cell. They wanted to peacefully picket the shop. However, the police influenced by liquor mafia ordered a lathi-charge on protestors,” said Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Prasad Harichandan.
