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Journalism of Courage
BHUBANESWAR, Aug 6: Orissa Advocate General Indrajit Roy on Thursday resigned from his post on personal grounds. Governor Dr C Rangarajan has accepted his resignation.
This was announced in the State Assembly by Law Minister Raghunath Patnaik.Pressure was mounting on Chief Minister JB Patnaik to dismiss Roy after the court framed charges against him in the Anjana Mishra molestation case.The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had announced recently that they would gherao the State Assembly on August 10 to press for Roy’s dismissal. The Janata Dal had also taken up the issue inside the Assembly.
The Chief Minister told mediapersons that Roy wasn’t dismissed and had quit on his own. Patnaik said that the Advocate General wanted to resign on personal grounds and “I have accepted his resignation.”
However, Patnaik added that his stand that no person should be punished until found guilty remains unchanged. The BJD and the BJP now have no justification to go ahead with their programmeof Assembly gherao, he added.Earlier in the day, the issue rocked the Orissa Assembly with senior Janata Dal leader Narasingh Mishra staging a dharna in the Well of the House demanding Roy’s ouster. Raising the issue during question hour, Mishra announced that he would launch a hunger strike in the House in protest against Government’s inaction. His party colleague Ranendra Pratap Swain demanded the setting up of a House committee to probe the matter. Nalini Kanta Mahanty (JD) alleged that the Government was responsible for the situation.
The Janata Dal, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and SUCI members stormed into the Well demanding a ruling from the Speaker on the issue. The Speaker adjourned the House for 30 minutes and assured the members that he would give his ruling before the end of the session.
Mishra ended his hunger strike after the Law Minister announced the resignation of the Advocate General in the House.
Addressing a news conference, Dal president Ashok Das claimed that Roy’s resignation wasthe result of persistent and repeated demand from the party.
He alleged that the BJD and the BJP had maintained a silence on the issue from the beginning and the Dal had submitted a memorandum to the Governor demanding Roy’s dismissal.
