Free Speech Tracker

List of Incidents in Orissa -> Arts censorship -> 2010
Police raid residence of journalist/writer Dandapani Mohapatra
Ref: http://orissamatters.com/2010/03/15/dandapani-mohapatra/
Bhubaneswar (Orissa)

Police in Chhatrapur raided the residence of well-known journalist and writer Dandapani Mohapatra in Chungudikhol, Ganjam district without any search warrant, while Mohaptra was away from home.

Mohapatra, general secretary of the Dakhina Odisha Sahitya Sammilani for over 25 years, is well-known for his independent thinking and has regularly written about corruption and nepotism in society and in the administration.

Mohaptra later said that five van loads of police belonging to five police stations, reached his home and virtually terrorised his family members. They broke open all the boxes and packets containing books, newspapers and personal documents, seized old copies of " Ghadaghadi " magazine (now defunct) and some other magazines, which he had collected and preserved in his personal library.

Then the police forced his only son Gautam Buddha Mohapatra to sign on some blank papers . The local Sarpanch was also asked to sign on some plain papers. During the raid one police officer said that Mohapatra's house was raided because of his links with Naxal leaders.

The Orissa-based Media Unity for Freedom of the Press (MUFP) has condemned the raid and said that �this was a deliberate attempt by the police to harass and terrorise the media persons and writers with an intention to shield free flow of news and information, which is a very dangerous phenomenon�.