India sex claim speaker resigns

By Sandeep Sahu
BBC News, Bhubaneswar

The speaker has denied the allegations

The speaker of the assembly in the Indian state of Orissa has resigned from his post in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment.

The claims against him have been made by a female guard in the assembly.

Police in the state capital Bhubaneswar have filed a criminal case against Maheswar Mohanty on the basis of a written complaint.

Mr Mohanty has denied the allegations and said that he was resigning to uphold the dignity of the assembly.

The complaint against him was made through a women's group because the complainant - who has gone into hiding - said she feared for her life.

Opposition parties had been stalling proceedings of the assembly for the last five days demanding the resignation of Mr Mohanty.

They and women's organisations have held demonstrations every day since the charges were levelled against the speaker.

Mr Mohanty said that he would have preferred a house committee to investigate the allegations against him, but since this was not acceptable to the opposition, he thought it "prudent" to resign.

In a related development, Orissa Chief Minister Navin Patnaik recommended the sacking of Sports Minister Debashish Nayak from his Council of Ministers.

Several party leaders had alleged that Mr Nayak played a "dubious role" in orchestrating what they called "a vilification campaign" against the speaker.

Mr Mohanty himself has complained about a "conspiracy" against him in which some "high-level" people were involved.