Cuttack: Ahead of the 2019 elections, Paradip MLA and former BJD leader Damodar Rout heaved a sigh of relief after the Orissa High Court today quashed a case registered against him for his alleged 'casteist remark' during a public gathering at Kujanga in Jagatsinghpur district in 2010.
A complaint in this regard was filed against Rout by one Manoj Bhoi at Kujang police station. Later, Rout had moved the HC seeking the dismissal of the case.
Rout, during a public meeting at Kujang in Jagatsinghpur in August 2010, had referred three persons, without taking their names (Jagatsinghpur MLA Bishnu Das, Jagatsinghpur MP Bibhu Prasad Tarei and ADM Upendra Mallick) as ‘Harijans’.
“While hearing the case today, Justice AK Mishra quashed the entire proceedings. While arguing the case, we put forward the stand that the FIR lodged against the statement did not attract SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act following which the Court quashed the case,” said Rout’s lawyer, Debasish Chhotray.