The Congress has been disrupting assembly proceedings seeking a judicial probe into the assembly.
With the opposition threatening to stall the ongoing budget session of Gujarat assembly, the state government on Wednesday accepted the demand of the Congress for a judicial probe into the gang-rape of a woman in Kutch recently.
The Congress has been protesting on the streets and also disrupting assembly proceedings which began on Monday seeking a judicial probe into the assembly. On Wednesday, hours before the issue was to be taken up in the state assembly, the state government struck a deal with the opposition.
"The judicial probe was the demand of the opposition and since we had nothing to hide chief minister ordered a judicial probe. The leader of opposition and chief minister held consultation after which the decision was taken and now we hope the assembly proceedings would go on smoothly," announced Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel.
The Kutch gang-rape survivor has alleged that she was raped by nine men over a period of a year after being drugged and blackmailed with a video clip. The accused include four BJP leaders in Kutch who have since been suspended by the party and arrested by the Kutch police. The Congress has alleged a wider sex racket involving BJP leaders and had been demanding an independent probe. For now the opposition has decided to call off its protest. “For now we have accepted the government decision but we hope that the government will go about sincerely appointing a judge with impeccable record,” said Congress spokesman Shaktisinh Gohil.
The government had already constituted a Special Investigation Team to probe the incident but the opposition has refused to accept it saying that the Gujarat Police was trying to cover up the involvement of senior BJP leaders in the incident. In an election year the issue was snowballing into a major political controversy and by announcing a judicial probe the state government for now has tried to get some breather from the opposition over the issue.