Privilege motion moved against Odisha minister over detention

Congress today moved a privilege motion against Parliamentary Affairs Minister B K Arukha for his statement on the alleged detention of girl students at the Maa Rama Devi Women's University during the Chief minister's visit on December 3.
"The Parliamentary Affairs Minister has misled the House by stating that the girls were not detained by the police while the entire media reports claimed that the girl students had been illegally detained," Mishra said during Zero hour.
Claiming that the minister's statement was not based on facts, the Leader of Opposition pointed out that government Chief whip and Deputy chief whip in their statements had admitted that the girls were detained in view of security.

Mishra also demanded action against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who allowed the minister to allegedly mislead the House. He said while print media published pictures of girls being put under lock and key, the television channels also showed the entire episode. Therefore, there was no doubt that the girls were detained by police, Mishra claimed.
Speaker Niranjan Pujari said a decision on the privilege notice would be taken after proper examination.
Speaker Pujari on December 5 in a ruling had asked the government to give a statement on the matter as the House witnessed uproar over the alleged detention of girls.

Accordingly, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Arukha on behalf of the government gave a statement on the same day following which normalcy returned in the House.

"BJD chief whip has said the detention is true. But the minister is saying something different. Different BJD leaders are saying different things," Congress MLA Nabakishore Das said.
Meanwhile, the students of Maharshi College and Rajdhani College today staged demonstration in their respective colleges seeking justice for the girl students of Maa Rama Devi Womens' University.
The women wings of both the opposition parties, the Congress and the BJP, have moved the National Women's Commission over the alleged detention issue.