Kerala: Opposition boycotts house on women safety'

Thiruvananthapuram: The Assembly witnessed tumultuous scenes on Monday over the abduction and assault of a film actor in Kochi the other day.  The Opposition boycotted the House after creating pandemonium demanding that the House should discuss women’s safety issues by suspending the normal proceedings in the backdrop of the attack. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in his reply,  denied any laxity by the police and  said that they were  given full freedom to probe into all allegations pertaining to the incident.

As the proceedings began, Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala demanded that the question-hour should be suspended to discuss women’s safety.   But speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan rejected the demand stating that a notice for adjournment motion would be considered during zero-hour. Subsequently, the Opposition boycotted the question-hour. During zero-hour, Congress MLA P.T. Thomas moved a  notice for an adjournment motion and asked the chief minister to tender an apology to the actor and her family. Considering the chief minister’s reply, the speaker denied permission for the motion.

Subsequently, the opposition leader called for a protest in the House and the Opposition members trooped to the well of the House and shouted slogans. They stood in front of the speaker’s dais raising a black banner blocking his view. Irked at this, the speaker repeatedly asked the Opposition to maintain restraint. Later, he suspended the House for about an hour and held talks with parliamentary party leaders. As the House convened after some time,  the opposition leader announced boycotting it for the day. The opposition attacked the chief minister for his statement ruling out a conspiracy behind the assault. 

However, Mr Vijayan reiterated that he had only referred to media reports. He also justified the  arrest of key accused Sunil alias Pusar Suni and his aide Vijeesh from the court room stating that “society knows how to deal with the accused in such brutal crimes.” As he highlighted the initiatives like increasing women representation in police and creating sex offenders’ register for women safety, the opposition leader charged that there was no use for such measures unless protection of women was ensured. The opposition alleged that even as the government boasts of patrolling and camera surveillance, an actor faced a brutal attack in a moving vehicle along a prominent stretch.

While the chief minister accused the Opposition of trying to take political advantage, Mr Chennithala  alleged that it was the LDF which had converted the Jisha murder case into votes. Mr Vijayan also denied the opposition’s allegation that women leaders of CPM had maintained silence over the attack. While he  recalled the murder of Radha at a Congress office in Nilambur to attack the UDF,  Mr Chennithala referred to the sexual allegations against a former CPM Kannur district secretary.