Privileges panel summons Kejriwal, former speaker over ‘Phansi Ghar’ row

The issue snowballed into a controversy after the current speaker claimed earlier this year that the room was no gallows chamber more than a “tiffin room”

The Delhi Assembly’s privileges committee has summoned former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, former speaker Ram Niwas Goel, and former deputy speaker Rakhi Birla in connection with the controversial “Phansi Ghar (gallows chamber)”, a section of the assembly complex that the previous AAP government claimed had been used by the British to hang freedom fighters, and which was converted in 2022 into a memorial honouring “martyrs”.

According to the official notice, they will be asked to respond to allegations of breach of privilege over their conduct and remarks during a 2022 assembly discussion on the so-called “Phansi Ghar”. (HT Archive)

The issue snowballed into a controversy after the current speaker claimed earlier this year that the room was no gallows chamber more than a “tiffin room”.

The committee, now functioning under the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, has called the four Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders to appear on November 13. According to the official notice, they will be asked to respond to allegations of breach of privilege over their conduct and remarks during a 2022 assembly discussion on the so-called “Phansi Ghar”.

The notice marks the first major action by the eighth Assembly’s privileges committee since the change of government earlier this year and signals a revival of an issue that had first erupted under the AAP’s tenure.

Officials said the panel intends to “review and record explanations” regarding alleged procedural violations and “unauthorised actions” by assembly functionaries in 2022, when parts of the Secretariat’s heritage structure were opened to the media and visitors, allegedly after being falsely described as a gallows chamber.

The controversy dates back to August 2022, when then speaker Ram Niwas Goel inaugurated what he called a “martyrs’ memorial” inside the assembly complex. The site featured murals of revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev, a symbolic hanging rope, and red-brick heritage-style walls. A plaque credited Kejriwal and Goel and carried an inscription that read: “Innumerable unknown freedom fighters have been hanged here”.

The memorial was spread across two floors, with a pulley mechanism displayed upstairs and a wooden platform below -- details that lent weight to the claim that it had once served as a colonial-era execution room.

However, during the monsoon session this August, current speaker Vijender Gupta presented building maps showing that the chamber was, in fact, a service shaft or tiffin lift area, not a gallows.

Following his disclosure, the area was renamed the “Tiffin Room”, and the plaque and symbolic elements were removed. The revelation triggered sharp exchanges between AAP and BJP legislators, with heritage experts cautioning against attributing unverified historical significance to the space.

In a strongly worded response issued on Thursday, the Aam Aadmi Party accused the BJP government of “weaponising the privileges committee to distract from its governance failures.” The party argued that issuing notices to former ministers and assembly leaders over actions taken during a dissolved House was “unlawful and politically motivated.”

“After the dissolution of the 7th Legislative Assembly of Delhi, the 8th Legislative Assembly cannot initiate privilege action for actions of the members in the previous assembly. This makes the privileges committee’s action not only politically motivated but also legally unsustainable,” the party said in a statement.

The AAP further accused the BJP of misusing the Assembly’s institutional mechanisms for political vendetta instead of addressing civic challenges in the Capital.

“The BJP government talks about making Delhi world-class, yet the reality is visible on every street with broken roads, rising pollution and administrative apathy. Instead of fixing these issues, the government is busy sending notices and staging political nautanki (drama),” the statement added.

Assembly officials, however, maintained that the committee’s proceedings were part of a fact-finding process.

“All individuals summoned will be given an opportunity to present their views,” said a senior official.