Madhya Pradesh Assembly Session Adjourned Amid Protests Over Suicide of Minister's 'Daughter-in-law'

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh assembly was adjourned sine die following protests over a woman’s suicide who claimed to be the ‘daughter-in-law’ of a state minister. Opposition Congress has been calling for a debate while the ruling BJP continued to deny their charges.

A belligerent Congress on Wednesday vowed to take the fight to the streets.

Upset over denial of debate, the Congress submitted a no-confidence motion against speaker Dr Sitasaran Sharma. But amid the din, the House failed to even debate the acceptability of the motion, let alone accepting it.

Meanwhile, despite the political upheaval, there has been no FIR was in the case till Wednesday as the Raisen police has only recorded statements of the deceased’s family.

Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh repeatedly alleged that while CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan identifies himself as a champion of women’s rights, he did not bother appearing in the House to discuss this serious case.

As soon as the House met on Wednesday, Congress MLAs started pressing for a debate on deceased Preeti Raghuwanshi but Speaker Dr Sitasaran Sharma did not allow any discussion and a commotion followed in the House.

Over the next few hours, the House was adjourned four times. Both Congress and BJP MLAs engaged in heated exchanges every time the House proceedings resumed.

Time and again Congress legislators rushed to the well raising slogans against the BJP government and accused it of making false promises on safety and empowerment of women.

Public Relations Minister Dr Narottam Mishra flayed the Congress and alleged breach of privilege claiming that the party distributed copies of the motion to the media.

This triggered a fresh spell of verbal dual between the BJP and Congress.

As Congress MLAs protested in the well, the Speaker hurriedly read out the pending Budget proposals and bills. As the Speaker sought a nod in the House through voice vote, he pronounced that the proceedings of the House are adjourned sine die.

The Budget season that started on February 21, came to a premature close, around a week ahead of the scheduled closure.

“As I met the girl’s family on Tuesday, they voiced concern for their own safety and pleaded for justice,” LOP Ajay Singh told the media.

He said, “On my intervention, police agreed to record the family’s statement but as the family sat at the police station from 8pm to 11 pm, the Sub Divisional Officer of Police was missing and was seen only at 1.30am.”

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Narottam Mishra said that the concerned minister has accepted the deceased girl to be his daughter-in-law and a case has been lodged and inquiry into the death is underway.

IG (Law and Order), Makrand Deuskar, on being asked whether minister’s son would be questioned, the officer said that this would be decided as more facts emerge.

Twenty five-year-old Preeti Raghuwanshi had committed suicide on March 17 while her family claimed that she had married PWD Minister Rampal Singh’s son. Preeti ended her life as the minister’s family planned to marry their son somewhere else, her family has alleged.