A day after a case of sexual abuse was registered against Orissa Assembly Speaker Maheswar Mohanty, the complainant lady marshal was untraceable.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday asserted that his government always stood for proper action as per law. Patnaik, however, skirted queries about the possibility of the Speaker's resignation. The Speaker, who has denied the charge of sexual abuse, promised to cooperate with the police in the investigation.
Accusing the Speaker of engaging his staff to persuade her to have sexual relations with him, the police complaint filed by Lady Assistant Marshal Gayatri Panda alleged that Mohanty often made vulgar gestures at her. Mohanty has denied the charges claiming it was part of a conspiracy in which influential people were involved to malign him.
The Orissa assembly plunged into a crisis as the Opposition Congress occupied the podium demanding immediate resignation of the Speaker for his alleged involvement in the case. Minutes before the House commenced, Opposition members rushed to the podium thus preventing Deputy Speaker Prahallada Dora to conduct the business. The Speaker had on Wednesday made a statement describing the allegation levelled against him by the woman employee as 'false and baseless'.
Citing lack of "credible evidence", Orissa Human Rights Commission on Thursday gave a clean chit to former assembly Speaker Maheshwar Mohanty in a case relating to sexual harassment charges levelled against him by a lady marshal of the House. "In view of lack of credible evidence and variation in statements of the victim, we are closing the case," Commission's Chairman Justice R K Patra said adding the allegations made by lady marshal Gayatri Panda could not be established"
An Opposition Congress member on Tuesday climbed on the Speaker's podium in the Orissa assembly demanding Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's resignation.
The incident took place when Congress MLA S S Saluja sought details on alleged tender fixing in Upper Indra project from Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raghunath Mohanty, who was replying questions relating to the irrigation department held by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, during question hour.
Two days after receiving a complaint of sexual harassment from a woman employee of Orissa Assembly, the police on Saturday registered a case against Speaker Maheswar Mohanty, charging him with intending to outrage her modesty. Earlier on March 27, the lady marshal had filed an FIR with the police alleging sexual harassment by the Speaker. The police, however, took two days to register a case as it could not contact the victim or any other person from her family.
The Orissa assembly witnessed pandemonium scenes for the second day on Friday over the abduction of Malkangiri District Collector R V Krishna with the opposition and treasury bench members virtually clashing in the Speaker's podium. The uproar erupted as soon as the House assembled for the day for question hour.
Feeling "tortured" by the Left parties' repeated "questioning" of his decisions, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Friday threatened to step down "here and now" as a protest against "insult" to the Chair. Chatterjee said a "new culture" had emerged in the House wherein the members "go on questioning" the Speaker's ruling.
Naveen Patnaik was injured when ruling and opposition members clashed over the government's agreement with a private mining company.
The teacher was kidnapped and murdered on October 8, while her body was exhumed from a school playground on October 19. Two people, including the prime accused, were arrested.
Candidates of the Naveen Patnaik-led party have won in 105 assembly seats, while the Congress has won 16 seats (11 in the previous assembly), and the Bharatiya Janata party 10 seats.
The breach of privilege notice against Maken was issued for going to the press on an issue raised in the House.
The trust motion, moved in a special assembly session four days after the BJP withdrew support to the Patnaik government following the collapse of Biju Janata Dal-BJP alliance over seat-sharing in the Lok Sabha polls, was passed in barely two hours of the proceedings
The four rebels are -- Prasanna Patsani, Prabhat Samantray, Kumudini Patnaik, wife of former state Finance Minister Ramakrushna Patnaik, and Jagannath Mallick.
On the basis of many conversations with stakeholders on the Telangana issue, Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt presents an FAQ to help understand the politics of posturing and realpolitik on the ground to win seats. The questions are many and the answers are not straight
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