Bhubaneswar: Congress MLAs in Odisha Thursday said that they will continue their protest in the state Assembly till the speaker forms a House committee to probe alleged rising atrocities against women and girls in the state.
Holding a press conference in Bhubaneswar, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rama Chandra Kadam said 44,824 women and children went missing in Odisha over the past four years (2020 to 2024), as per information given by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi himself in the state assembly.
At least 11 Congress MLAs including Kadam attended the press conference.
“Such a huge number of people are missing. At the same time, it was also reported that minor school-going girls have become pregnant…,” Kadam said.
During the last nine-month rule of the BJP government, more than 1,800 cases of atrocities against women were registered in Odisha, he said, adding, “It shows that women and girls are not safe in the state. So, we have been fighting for their rights and safety for the past several days.”
“We will continue our protest demanding the formation of a House committee to probe such cases,” he said.
The Congress has been protesting over the issue of the alleged rise in crimes against women in the state since the beginning of the second phase of the budget session March 7. The party has also announced to gherao the state assembly March 27.
Instead of taking any action to address the issue, the speaker has suspended senior Congress MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati from assembly for seven days, he said.
“Unparliamentarily word used against Bahinipati, he was insulted, attacked and suspended. However, we continued our protest because the BJP government cannot suppress our voice by taking such action,” Kadam said.
The CLP leader further alleged, “The speaker has now put restrictions on camera persons to cover the proceedings during the Question hour. After imposing the restriction, specific direction was also issued not to cover our protest inside the House.”
Senior Congress MLA Bahinipati, who was also present in the meeting, condemned the speaker’s action against him and said the assembly is not the personal property of anybody, it belongs to the people of Odisha.
“The ruling party tried to snatch the rights of opposition by suppressing their voice and taking such actions,” he alleged.
When asked about their demand for an assembly panel, Bahinipati said, “We demand for formation of a committee because a panel having members from all parties will make field visits to some places where atrocities against women/girls are reported and investigate the incidents.”
Later, after holding consultation with experts, the panel will recommend the government a strong law to give capital punishment to culprits in sensitive crime against women cases, he suggested.
PTI
