The 13-year-old student had committed suicide after he was caned by the principal of his school, La Martiniere for Boys.

RSP member Md Refatullah, who raised the issue in the House, demanded justice for the family of the victim and steps to prevent recurrence of such incidents. The Speaker, then, directed government chief whip Syed Md Masiha to ensure that a statement on the steps taken by the government is made by the chief minister in the House.

The Left Front government had earlier announced that it was planning to set up an appropriate body to deal with the issue of corporal punishment.

Cong walks out over ‘police torture’
The Congress walked out of the Assembly protesting against alleged harassment of its leaders and workers by the ruling CPM in collusion with police in Murshidabad district.

Alleging that party activists in the district have been implicated in false and fictitious cases, Congress MLA from the district Manoj Chakraborty wanted to raise the issue in the House. Even as Deputy Speaker Bhaktipada Ghosh, who was in the Chair, assured him that he could raise the matter, the Speaker on his return rejected Chakraborty’s appeal, saying this was not an appropriate case to be raised.

With his other Congress colleagues, led by CLP leader Manas Bhuniya, Chakraborty then staged a walkout. Bhuniya later said that he would soon take up the matter with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Naskar’s unkind words against Union minister irk Congress
Irked by state Irrigation Minister Subhas Naskar’s criticism of a union minister in the Assembly on Tuesday, Congressmen rose to their feet saying that it was not appropriate for the state minister to criticise a union minister when the latter is not present in the House.

The incident occurred when Naskar was making a statement in the Assembly on the repair works of river embankments in Sunderbans after the region was hit by

Cyclone Aila. While making the statement, Naskar said a union minister from the state had called for Central assistance in cyclone-hit Sundarbans, directly through the Zilla Parishad after bypassing the state government. Angry Congress MLAs said that Naskar was making reference to a union minister without definite proof about what the minister had written. On the issue of repairing the breached embankments, Naskar said though the Centre had approved Rs 5,032 crore, the Planning Commission had sanctioned Rs 1,339.50 crore.