Odisha Assembly stalled over dowry cases

Odisha Assembly was on Saturday stalled over alleged involvement of an ex-minister and a senior IPS officer in separate dowry torture cases and frequent crimes against women with opposition Congress MLAs storming the well leading to repeated adjournments.

Though Question Hour was  peaceful, Congress members raised the issue as soon as Zero Hour began. They stormed into the well and tried to climb the Speaker’s podium demanding a statement from chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

The opposition MLAs, who had walked out of the assembly on Friday alleging protection to senior Biju Janata Dal leader Raghunath Mohanty, took up the issue again with a senior UPS officer in the rank of an additional director general of police being named in another FIR. Congress member S S Saluja demanded a statement from the CM on involvement of high profile persons in dowry torture cases.

Giving details about the FIR against ADG Gopabandhu Mallick, working in Odisha Human Rights Commission, Saluja said the IPS officer’s sister-in-law had levelled dowry charges against him. Mallick was among the six accused persons in the FIR lodged by Santoshini Mallick, a mother of two daughters.