The Uttar Pradesh assembly on Friday awarded a day’s imprisonment to a retired bureaucrat and five policemen in connection with a breach of privilege notice given by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Salil Vishnoi and his supporters in an 18-year-old case.
The case dates back to September 2004 when Vishnoi, then legislator from Kanpur Nagar district, and his supporters were holding a protest against power cuts in the city.
In his privilege notice in October that year, Vishnoi, now a BJP member of the UP Legislative Council, said he was leading a delegation to submit a memorandum to the district magistrate when policemen hurled abuses and charged at them with lathis, injuring several protesters.
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The retired IAS officer – Abdul Samad – was the circle officer of Babu Purwa, Kanpur Nagar, police at that time.
“All six accused be awarded imprisonment and be kept in the lock up of the House for a day (till change of date). Facilities like food etc. should be provided in the lock up,” speaker Satish Mahana said.
They were immediately taken into custody, at around 1pm, and will be released at midnight, as per the speaker’s order.
{{/usCountry}}They were immediately taken into custody, at around 1pm, and will be released at midnight, as per the speaker’s order.
{{/usCountry}}The speaker’s decision came soon after the House unanimously adopted a resolution moved by parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Khanna for one day’s imprisonment for police officers.
“Everyone has tried to apologise but it is very important to maintain the dignity of the legislature in a democracy,” he said, adding that elected representatives work for the welfare of the public, and policemen do not get the right to use batons and abuse them.
The House Committee of Privileges, which takes up cases where the rights of legislators are targeted, had on Monday recommended punishment for the officers.
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Members of the Samajwadi Party, which was in power when the incident took place, and its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal were not present in the House as the Speaker announced the punishment.
The five others who appeared in the House are then Kidwai Nagar station house officer Rishikant Shukla, then sub-inspector Triloki Singh, and then constables Chote Singh, Vinod Mishra and Meharban Singh.
In the House, Samad asked for forgiveness – “while touching the feet of all of you” – for the mistake “committed knowingly or unknowingly during the discharge of official work”.