Police officer misbehaves with Cong MLA; Assembly adjourned

Bhubaneswar, Mar 10: Orissa Assembly was adjourned thrice and finally for lunch today without transacting any business over the alleged misbehaviour of a policer office towards Congress MLA at the entrancegate yesterday.

The entire Opposition trooped into the well and shouted slogans demanding suspension of the business of the house. Even Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's announcement on suspension of the erring police officer did not pacify the agitated Opposition which continued to occupy the well and chanted slogans in support of their demand.

Speaker Maheswar Mohanty was forced to adjourn the house for 30 minutes at 1046 hours to restore order.The house was then adjourned twice and finally for lunch as the speaker failed to resolve the issue.

The Opposition described the incident as an insult to the member and demanded that all business of the house, including the question hour, be suspended and the matter discussed.

As the house assembled for the day to take up the question hour, Leader of Opposition J B Patnaik rose to say that MLA Padmalochan Panda was assaulted by a police officer who also misbehaved with him at the Assembly gate yesterday.

He said Mr Panda came to him last night and broke down while narrating the incident. He said never had such an incident happened in the Assembly premises. No MLA, he asserted, would perform his duty after being humiliated by a police officer.

Mr Panda said no MLA was safe in the assembly and demanded the matter be discussed suspending all business of the house.

Orissa Gana Parishad(OGP) MLA Arun De said he was an eyewitness to the incident in which the police officer had rebuked the MLA even as he identified himself and wanted to enter the Assembly.

Mr De suggested that the Leader of the House and the Leader of Opposition should together resolve the issue. Biju Janata Dal(BJD)'s Raghunath Mohanty condemning the incident urged the speaker to take necessary steps to prevent recurrence of such incidents. Mr Mohanty said some Assembly staff deployed at the gate had also failed in discharging their duties.

Trouble began when the chief minister stood up to intervene into the matter.The Opposition, which had announced to boycott him in the Assembly, started shouting slogans and rushed to the well to demand suspension of the business of the house.

The chief minister,however, went on reading a statement and said the instances of alleged misbehaviour by a police officer with the Simulia MLA has come to the notice of the government.

He further said based on preliminary inquiry by the Khurda Superintendent of Police the concerned police officer P K Tripathy, a sub-inspector, had been placed under suspension and departmental proceedings initiated against him.

Despite his statement, pandemonium prevailed in the house as the Opposition insisted on suspension of the business of the house.

Finding no other option, the speaker adjourned the house for thirty minutes. The house reassembled but was adjourned twice by Chairman Raghunath Mohanty and finally for lunch without resolving the issue.

UNI