BHUBANESWAR: The Assembly witnessed noisy scenes on Tuesday over the reported pregnancy of tribal girls residing in a state-run hostel here with Congress and BJP members demanding a statement from the government on the issue.
The opposition members alleged that state-run hostels for tribal girls are being misused and are not safe for inmates.
The House had to be adjourned for 10 minutes during zero hour as Congress members rushed to the well demanding an impartial probe into the matter and tried to climb on to the Speaker’s podium.
Later, Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro asked the department concerned to make a statement in the House in this regard.
Raising the issue during zero hour, leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Narasingh Mishra alleged that there is an attempt to suppress the matter as the authorities of the hostel have sent back the girls to their homes.
Though the initial medical reports had said that four girls tested positive for pregnancy, three of them later tested negative, he said.
Stating that the issue would have evoked a nationwide protest had the incident taken place in Mumbai or Delhi, Mishra asked Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to take the matter seriously and punish those involved in it.
He demanded that the inquiry report of the incident should be tabled in the House on July 12, the first day of second phase of the session.
Mishra alleged that though seven women are raped every day in the state as per official statistics, only nine accused persons are convicted in a year.
House uproar over pregnancy
“Is this how this Government gives ‘Maa Ku Samman’ (respect to women)?” he asked.
BJP member Bisnu Charan Sethi also expressed concern over the issue and alleged that parents of the girls are being threatened to suppress the matter. Four girls of a hostel here run by the ST and SC Development department were found to be pregnant after health check up of 101 students under Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram programme.
However, further check-up confirmed that only one of the hostel inmates was actually pregnant.
The police had on Monday arrested one person from Bhubaneswar on charges of raping and impregnating a minor girl of the tribal hostel.