The Legislative Assembly witnessed noisy scenes here on Monday over the death of the student, Sourav Chowdhury, who was killed on Saturday in Bamongachi area of North 24 Parganas district.
Soon after the proceedings began, Congress legislators refused to pose their questions in protest against the ghastly crime. After the question hour, the Congress legislators, MLAs of the Left Front, and the lone MLA of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) raised separate adjournment motions demanding arrest of the main accused in the murder and a statement from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the issue.
Though Speaker Biman Banerjee allowed the legislators to read the text of the motions, he rejected the adjournment motions. The Congress MLAs and the SUCI legislator walked out of the House in protest. The MLAs of the Left Front, however, descended in the well and raised slogans for several minutes.
“What does an adjournment motion mean? It means that there should be a discussion in the House and the Chief Minister should come and participate in the debate,” Leader of the Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra told journalists.
“However, she (Ms. Banerjee) is protecting the ‘worthy sons’ of the Trinamool Congress and the party legislators are protecting her,” Mr. Mishra said.
Senior Congress MLA Manas Ranjan Bhunia demanded answers from Chief Secretary Sanjay Mitra, Home Secretary Basudeb Banerjee, and Director General of Police GMP Reddy.
“The Chief Secretary is the chief of the executive. Why is he not coming out with a statement in this regard,” Mr Bhunia asked.
“Even 48 hours after the incident, the main accused is still at large. The Chief Minister should make a statement in the House on the issue,” he added.
The body of the 19-year-old college student was found on railway track between Bamongachi and Duttapukur on July 5. Though five persons have been arrested in connection with the crime, the main accused, Shyamal Karmakar, is on the run.
