BHUBANESWAR: The Assembly on Friday witnessed noisy scenes over the alleged detention of some students of Rama Devi Women’s University on the premises of the educational institution during the visit of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday with the Congress members demanding his ‘apology’.
The House was adjourned several times over the issue and no business could be transacted during the day. The issue was raised by Congress Chief Whip Taraprasad Bahinipati as soon as the House assembled for the question hour.
Showing newspaper clippings, Bahinipati alleged that around 10 girl students were locked up in a room by the police anticipating disturbance during Naveen’s campus visit for inauguration of the State’s first women’s university on Thursday.
Leader of the Opposition Narasingh Mishra demanded that the Chief Minister should come to the House and apologise for the illegal locking of the girls in their own university. This action of police clearly violated the basic human rights and constitutional rights of girls, he said.
While demanding an unconditional apology from the Chief Minister, who is also the Home Minister, the Congress members, led by Bahinipati, attempted to climb on the Speaker’s podium and grab his mike. Unable to run the House, Speaker Niranjan Pujari adjourned the House at 10.33 am till 12 noon.
The Opposition BJP members, on their part, expressed concern over the matter and protested the police action by standing on their respective seats.
As soon as the House reassembled, the Congress members again created a furore as a result of which the Speaker had to adjourn it till 3 pm. The afternoon session could run for only 3 minutes as Congress and BJP members rushed to the well of the House shouting slogans.