GUWAHATI, March 26 – The gang rape of a minor at Batadrawa in Nagaon district rocked the State Legislative Assembly today when the legislators of both ruling and opposition parties got engaged in a heated exchange of words over the issue, leading to a walkout by the Congress.The arguments started when the Leader of Opposition, Debabrata Saikia proposed an adjournment motion after the question hour in the Assembly over the gang rape and killing of the 13-year-old on March 23 and brought a reference of more than 3,000 incidents of rape and numerous instances of crime against women in the State in the past two years.

Before the admissibility of the motion could be ascertained by Deputy Speaker Dilip Kumar Paul, the situation got heated up when Health, Education and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma asked Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary to make public the names of the accused involved in the incident. Patowary, who was replying on behalf of the Department of Home, also questioned the admissibility of the motion, referring to the Assembly rules.

The Congress legislators took objection to a comment made by Sarma and staged a walkout amid slogans of ‘shame, shame’ by the BJP MLAs.

Later, on the demand of the BJP MLAs, Patowary made public the names of the main accused involved in the recent rape cases of Batadrawa, Mourajhar, Jagiroad, Tamulpur and Juria. Incidentally, all the accused, including Zakir Hussain, the prime accused of the Nagaon case, belonged to the minority community.

AIUDF’s Aminul Islam, while objecting to the ‘singling out’ of accused belonging to the minority community, named out several such cases, where the members of other communities were involved. “Irrespective of the communities they belong to, culprits involved in such heinous crimes should be given exemplary punishment, not less than death penalty or life sentence,” he added.

Sarma defended his stand by saying that he had just asked to reveal the names of the culprits involved in recent cases and the House has every right to know the names. “If a catalogue of the criminals and accused is prepared and made public, more heads would be hung in shame here,” he added.

Later, the Deputy Speaker disallowed the adjournment motion on the ground that the House would have ample opportunities to discuss the issue in its other proceedings.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has expressed concern over the rape and murder of a minor girl in Nagaon district and has directed the police to take action against the perpetrators.

The Chief Minister also wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court today with a request for setting up a fast-track court to take up all cases of crimes against women on an urgent basis.

News Source Assam Tribune