Parliament: BJP calls for an apology to Smriti Irani, Lok Sabha adjourns for the day
Congress MPs had earlier staged walked out of the Lok Sabha in protest against the Unnao incident.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day on Friday after BJP leaders asked Congress legislators to apologise for their behaviour towards Union minister Smriti Irani. The woman and child development minister had criticised the Congress for politicising rape.
In the morning, members of the Lok Sabha raised the matter of crimes against women, and spoke about the police encounter in Telangana and a recent incident in Unnao. Members of the Congress walked out of the House, complaining about the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier in the day, four men accused of raping and killing a veterinarian near Hyderabad were killed in a police encounter when they tried to escape.
5.06 pm: The Rajya Sabha takes up discussions on The Representation of the People Amendment Bill, 2014.
5.02 pm: Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri says 14 crore citizens were involved in the cleanliness movement. “Rural India is now open defecation free. Twenty states and Union Territories have become ODF [open defecation free]. 99% of our statutory towns are ODF,” he says, according to The Hindu.
3.36 pm: Lok Sabha has adjourned for the day as BJP legislators asked Congress MPs to apologise for their behaviour towards Union minister Smriti Irani, reports The Hindu.
2.08 pm: Lok Sabha reconvenes for a brief period. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi says two Opposition MPs should apologise for their remarks while responding to Union minister Smriti Irani, reports The Hindu.
BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, in the chair, says the matter should be taken up with the two legislators. Lekhi adjourns the House till 2.30 pm.
2.02 pm: Rajya Sabha adjourned till 2.30 pm.
12.51 pm: Lok Sabha adjourned till 1.30 pm.
12.45 pm: Union minister Smriti Irani says in Lok Sabha: “The fact that you [Opposition MPs] shout here today means you do not want a woman to stand up and talk about issues. You were quiet when in West Bengal panchayat polls, rape was used as a political weapon, you were quiet then.”
12.40 pm: Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant says in the Lok Sabha that a law is needed to ensure that crimes against women are heard directly by the Supreme Court, ANI reports. He urges the Speaker to set up a committee to discuss this matter.
Arvind Sawant,Shiv Sena, in Lok Sabha:A law needs to be constituted through which such(crimes against women) cases are heard directly in Supreme Court,currently procedure starts from lower courts,process goes on&on.I appeal to you(Speaker)to set up a committee to discuss this pic.twitter.com/RTsgvnakNI
— ANI (@ANI) December 6, 2019
12.27 pm: Congress MPs walk out of the Lok Sabha in protest against the Unnao incident, ANI reports.
12.26 pm: Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, says: “The Unnao victim has 95% burns, what is going on in the country? On one hand there is a Lord Ram temple being built and on the other hand, Sita Maiya is being set ablaze. How are criminals feeling so emboldened?”
Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary,Congress in Lok Sabha: The Unnao victim has 95% burns, what is going on in the country? On one hand there is a Lord Ram temple being built and on the other hand Sita Maiya is being set ablaze. How are criminals feeling so emboldened? pic.twitter.com/ptXYGifLN6
— ANI (@ANI) December 6, 2019
11.50 am: BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi speaks about the police encounter in which four rape accused were killed earlier in the day near Hyderabad. She says Telangana Police had to open fire when the accused tried to escape. “Police have not been given weapons as a showpiece,” she says.
11 am: Trinamool Congress MPs protest against rising onion prices.
Delhi: Trinamool Congress MPs protest in Parliament over rising onion prices pic.twitter.com/M9DNuuXEBk
— ANI (@ANI) December 6, 2019
10.55 am: Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury gives an adjournment motion notice in the Lok Sabha on the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, reports ANI.