Odisha Government on Saturday denied media reports that girl students were detained in a room during Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s visit to Maa Rama Devi University campus on December 3 even as the girls sought intervention of the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC).
“No female student was confined in a closed place. The media reports on confinement of girls were not based on facts,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister B K Arukha said in a statement in the Assembly as per the ruling of Speaker Niranjan Pujari.
Pujari had earlier directed the State Government to issue a statement on the allegations of girl students having been detained after opposition Congress members disrupted proceeding of the House and demanded unconditional apology from the Chief Minister.
The Assembly was adjourned at least four times during the day due to the din by the opposition MlAs who described the incident as illegal and violative of the human rights and constitutional rights of the girl students.
As the impasse continued in the Assembly for the second consecutive day, Pujari convened an all party meeting where it was decided that the government will give a statement on the allegations about girls’ detention. However, the situation worsened when Priyadarshi Mishra, one of the BJD MlAs, in a media statement drew parallel between the college girls and the female human bomb that killed former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.