Noisy scenes in Odisha Assembly over Jagatsinghpur rape case

The House had to be adjourned several times in the pre-lunch session as Congress and BJP members rushed into the well and shouted slogans. 
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik

BHUBANESWAR: The Assembly on Monday witnessed noisy scenes over the rape of a minor girl with the Opposition members demanding a statement from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the incident.

The House had to be adjourned several times in the pre-lunch session as Congress and BJP members rushed into the well and shouted slogans. 

The issue spilled over to the afternoon session and Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro had to adjourn the House till 3.34 pm.

The Speaker had to convene an all-party meeting to resolve the issue.

Normalcy returned after Patro announced that the Government will make a statement on the issue on Tuesday.

Leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Narasingh Mishra raised the issue during zero hour and demanded that if the sensational case reported from Jagatsinghpur is true, he should apologise.

Referring to the statement of the Chief Minister in the House on Friday that cases of human tragedy, particularly relating to women, should not be politicised, Mishra alleged that he is not bothered about the rising cases of harassment against women.

Speaking on the issue, BJP MLA and Deputy Leader of Opposition Bishnu Charan Sethi criticised the State Government for trying to suppress the incident as an influential person was harassing the girl under the patronage of local ruling party bigwigs. 

Government Chief Whip Pramila Mallick, however, said the Government has never claimed that harassment cases have completely stopped.

She said the number of such incidents has come down and the accused are being punished.

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