Bhubaneswar, July 13: Odisha Assembly witnessed a ruckus over the assault on a tribal woman by a police officer in June last forcing Speaker B K Arukh to adjourn the house four times on Wednesday.
Due to the protest by the opposition Congress and BJP members over the issue, the discussion on the admissibility of the adjournment motion on the educational system could not be taken up.
The house plunged into a chaotic situation as both Congress and BJP members demanded a ruling from the Speaker directing the government to order a Crime Branch inquiry or a judicial inquiry into the incident.
The opposition members also demanded a House Committee be constituted to probe into the incident and stern action against Chitrakonda SDPO Anshuman Dwivedi.
The issue was first raised by Tara Prasad Bahinipati (Cong) and later supported by his party colleagues—Narasingha Mishra, Santosh Singh Saluja and Mohan Majhi of BJP.
Raising the issue Bahinipati said the SDPO illegally entered the houses of tribals in RAC village 13 under Chitrakonda block of Malkangiri district on the midnight of June 7 and conducted a raid in the village based on wrong information that the people were engaged in illegal ganja trade.
During the raid the SDPO, Bahinipati said, had severely beaten a pregnant woman, an 80-year-old woman and a minor girl. The SDPO, he alleged, did not take any lady Police during the raid.
He said although four women were admitted to the hospital with serious injuries following the police action under the pressure of the Police the doctor gave a false certificate that there was no injury.
Bahinipati showed the photographs of the injuries in the house and demanded action against the doctor. He said a four-member fact-finding team of Congress visited the area and interacted with the victims.
He said the Chief Minister is advocating respect for the women and appealing to support tribal women contesting the Presidential election but his government is not taking any steps against the police officer for assaulting the trial woman.
Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishra demanded the house be adjourned and an all-party meeting be convened to discuss the issue and find a solution.
The Speake, he said should direct the government to order a crime branch inquiry or a Judicial inquiry and constitute a House Committee to inquire into the incident so that no officer in future would dare to assault a woman.
He was supported by his party colleague Santosh Singh Saluja and Mohan Majhi of the BJP.
Describing the matter as serious and unfortunate Majhi urged the Speaker to give a ruling for an inquiry into the incident
The congress members trooped into the well and shouted slogans in support of their demand. The BJP members later joined the congress and disrupted the proceedings of the house.
As the house plunged into a chaotic situation, The Speaker adjourned the house first at 1200hrs till 1210. He then called an all-party meeting. Subsequently, the house was adjourned twice for 15 minutes each and finally at 1240hrs till 1600 as the all-party meeting failed to reach a consensus.
With UNI Inputs…
