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Orissa govt opposes media access to Dara Singh

Bibhuti Mishra in Bhubaneswar

The state government has expressed a strong objection to granting permission to the media to interview Dara Singh, prime accused in the Australian missionary Graham Staines murder case.

The correspondent of India Today, after being refused permission to interview Dara Singh who is lodged in Baripada central jail, had moved the Orissa high court seeking its intervention in getting to interview the accused.

The petitioner had said that since Dara Singh had expressed a desire to grant the interview, the administration's refusal to grant permission for the same was violative of fundamental rights and also provisions in the Orissa jail manual.

However, the state government, in a counter-affidavit, has contended that granting such an interview would cause escalation of communal tension and give unhealthy publicity to the accused. It has also countered that the petitioner did not come under the provisions of the jail manual.

The state government's rejoinder came in response to the notice served on it by the high court.

The government maintains that one interview will follow another and the accused could cash in on this for getting his wrong cause glorified. Considering the kind of statements he has been making to the police regarding conversion activities, his interviews would most certainly cause communal discord, it has said.

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