Odisha: Two BJP MLAs booked for 'forcibly' entering collector office

SAMBALPUR: BJP MLAs Jayanarayan Mishra (Sambalpur) and Nauri Nayak (Rengali) landed in trouble for allegedly forcibly entering the office of the district collector in Sambalpur to submit a memorandum on the Covid-19 related issues on Tuesday.
Following the incident, police registered a case against the two legislators and their supporters under section 143, 188, 447, 332, 353, 294, 269, 270, 336, 506, 149 of IPC besides 7 Criminal Law Amendment Act, Section 3 Epidemic Disease Act and 51 Disaster Management Act.
Police said, Mishra and Nayak besides their supporters violated the Covid-19 guidelines, forcibly entered into the office premises of the district collector besides manhandled the police.
According to police, a group of BJP supporters under the leadership of Mishra and Nayak came in a procession from BJP party office, Sambalpur to the district collectorate here to submit a memorandum regarding health related issues in Sambalpur district. They were requested not to enter into the premises in huge numbers and were also requested to obey the guidelines of Covid-19. Police also persuaded them to maintain social distancing and asked them not to enter inside the premises without any prior permission of the competent authority. Police also asked them to submit the memorandum before Additional District Magistrate (ADM), Sambalpur and ADM also agreed to receive the memorandum from the agitators at the main gate of the district collectorate. But the agitators didn’t pay any heed to the request of the police and tried to enter into the premises forcibly. While police obstructed them, they jostled with the police and entered the premises forcibly. They also entered into the office of the ADM, Sambalpur without obeying the Covid guidelines and misbehaved with the ADM and used filthy language.
Mishra however said, even though police have no constitutional right to restrict him, police did not allow him to enter into the district collectorate. He had to enter into the district collectorate forcibly, he said. He further said, if a MLA is not allowed to enter into a district collectorate in a democratic country, one can imagine how the district administration and the government are functioning in the state, he added.