Odisha Cop's Order To 'Break Legs' Of Protesters Goes Viral; Later Clarifies 'Out Of Context'
A senior police officer in Odisha told personnel to "break the legs" of Congress protestors at CM Mohan Charan Majhi's residence after a stampede at Puri's Shree Gundicha temple.
A senior police officer's precise directive to personnel in Odisha guarding CM Mohan Charan Majhi's residence during a Congress party protest has gone viral. As per the NDTV, the officer instructed to 'break the legs" of the protestors who were trying to reach towards the circular barbed wire that went in a loop around the barricade.
This comes after the Congress workers came to protest against the stampede that happened near Puri's Shree Gundicha temple during a ceremony linked to the ongoing Rath Yatra festival.
Protesters attributed the stampede to crowd mismanagement and negligence, which resulted in three deaths and 50 injuries.
A large police force was posted outside CM Majhi's house in anticipation of the protest by the Congress workers.
Bhubaneswar Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) Narasingha Bhol was among the officers who supervised the deployment.
In the viral video, Bhol walked to the last barricade among a row of barricades and gave instructions to police personnel standing there. Pointing his index finger towards a circular barbed wire that went in a loop around the barricade, the ACP said, 'If anybody reaches here, break their leg. Don't catch them, just break their legs. We are standing there [some distance away] to catch them. Whoever breaks a leg, come to me and take a reward."
'Yes, sir, yes, sir," the policemen behind the last barricade responded to the instruction given by the Indian Police Service (IPS) officer.
'There is a place, time and context in everything. Where was it happening, when was it happening… If you see the video, I told the personnel that 'we are there to arrest them'," Bhol said to NDTV on the phone, referring to a spot some distance away from the barricade. 'Before reaching the spot where I was standing, there were two barricades. The order was to detain unruly protesters at the first barricade itself. However, if somebody breached the two barricades and went beyond them, then that person has already broken the law. He is part of an unlawful assembly."
'We are free to apply maximum force to stop unlawful assembly," the police officer added.
The Odisha government has indeed launched an administrative investigation into the Puri stampede that occurred during Lord Jagannath's Rath Yatra. State Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan said Development Commissioner Anu Garg will submit a report to the chief minister within 30 days.
'The state government will take stern action against those responsible for the tragic incident," the law minister said.
Puri's Chief District Medical Officer, Kishore Satapathy, stated that all injured individuals were discharged from the government health facility by 8 pm on Sunday, according to PTI.
First Published:
June 30, 2025, 07:59 IST
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