Odisha woman held for violating lockdown norms

Jajpur: A woman working at a private company has been arrested for allegedly misbehaving with a block development officer (BDO) and his colleagues who caught her for violating the lockdown order in Odisha’s Jajpur district, police said.

A team led by Danagadi BDO Mani Prasad Mishra was enforcing the lockdown norms in his area, and the woman allegedly abused the officer and his co-workers on Tuesday, when she was stopped from travelling in a vehicle during the lockdown, they said.

The accused allegedly snatched a mobile phone from one of the government officials who were on duty, a senior police officer said.

The woman was arrested on Wednesday after a complaint was lodged at the Jajpur Road police station, he said.

“The woman, an engineer of an industrial unit in Kalinganagar, was travelling in a vehicle. The BDO asked her to stop but the accused pulled the mask from his face and insulted him without any provocation,” the police station’s inspector-in-charge Anil Kumar Mohanty said.

When other government officials of the team protested, the accused snatched and damaged the mobile phone of one of them, he said.

An investigation has been initiated, the police officer added.