Bhubaneswar: Activists, journalists and writers sported black badges and gagged their mouth Thursday as they staged a sit-in outside the official residence of the Orissa governor here to protest the arrest of writer Lenin Kumar for writing a book on the recent violence in Kandhamal.
Lenin Kumar, the editor of the quarterly magazine Nishan, was arrested Monday after his book ‘Dharma Nare Kandhamalare Raktara Banya’ (Flood of blood in Kandhamal in the name of religion) came out. Police termed the publication provocative and intended to disturb communal harmony.
Two others who helped him print and circulate the book are also arrested and jailed in Bhubaneswar after their bail pleas were rejected.
The protesters sat in front of the governor’s house for nearly three hours holding placards and banners that read ‘Stop communalism’, ‘Free Lenin and others with apology’, ‘Thinking and writing is not crime’, and ‘Support the right to Dissent’.
A delegation later handed over a memorandum to the officials at the governor’s house demanding immediate release of the writer.
 ‘Everybody has the right to express his thoughts. It is an attempt by the government to suppress writers who have independent voices,’ eminent writer and columnist Bibhuti Patnaik said.
The Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), journalist associations and writers associations across the state have also issued statements condemning the arrest of Lenin.