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U.P.: SP MLA caught livestreaming house proceedings on FB, suspended for 3 hours
On the second day of winter session of legislative assembly, speaker Satish Mahana asked SP MLA Atul Pradhan to leave the house immediately when a preliminary inquiry indicated that he had livestreamed the house proceedings on Facebook live
Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly witnessed a piquant situation when Samajwadi Party (SP) member Atul Pradhan was suspended and was asked to leave the house for livestreaming its proceedings on Facebook live minutes after being belatedly conveyed happy birthday wishes on the second day of the ongoing winter session of the legislative assembly on Tuesday.
However, the suspension of Pradhan, an MLA from Sardhana in Meerut, was revoked in three hours. Speaker Satish Mahana, who initially warned the member against doing so, later asked Pradhan to leave the house immediately when a preliminary inquiry indicated that the SP legislator had actually livestreamed the house proceedings on Facebook live.
“Atul Pradhan has telecast the proceedings of the house live against rules of the house. This has been checked. I hereby direct you (Pradhan) to leave the house for the winter session,” ordered Mahana. Soon after the speaker’s directives, Pradhan left the house. In his Facebook live, Pradhan was seen raising ‘Inquilab Zindabad (Long live the revolution)’ slogans.
Later, SP leaders Manoj Pandey and Lalji Verma urged the speaker to reconsider his decision and reduce the period of punishment awarded to Pradhan to a few hours as the latter was a first-time member. “Ignorance of law is no excuse,” said the speaker. He, however, agreed to reduce the time of punishment to Pradhan to a day and then till 1pm on Tuesday.
When Pradhan entered the house again, he tendered an apology to the speaker and assured him that he would not do so in future.
It all began soon after the house assembled at about 11am and the speaker conveyed belated happy birthday wishes to Pradhan and other members. Pradhan’s birthday falls on December 5. The speaker said the birthday wishes could not be conveyed to Pradhan as the house was mourning the death of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh on Monday.
Soon after the speaker conveyed birthday wishes to many members, including Pradhan, Samajwadi Party leader Manoj Pandey rose from his seat accusing the police of not allowing free and fair election in Rampur where voting for the assembly bypoll was held on Monday.
He alleged that women and elderly people were beaten up by the police there and were not allowed to cast their votes. Soon, the Samajwadi Party members entered the well of the house. Minister for parliamentary affairs Suresh Khanna said the accusations made by the SP leader were baseless and that the party was in habit of making such accusations when it feared losing any election.
Mahana repeatedly asked the members to take their seats. At about this time, he came to know that the proceedings of the state legislative assembly were being livestreamed on the Facebook Live. “I will take action if this act is confirmed,” said the speaker adjourning the house for 15 minutes. The adjournment was later extended for another 15 minutes. He announced his decision soon after the house began proceedings after half-an-hour adjournment.
