Mann told to stay out of House during probe

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Monday constituted a panel to probe Aam Aadmi Party MP Bhagwant Mann’s video, which allegedly compromised parliamentary

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Monday constituted a panel to probe Aam Aadmi Party MP Bhagwant Mann’s video, which allegedly compromised parliamentary security arrangements, and “advised” him against attending the House till the matter was settled.

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Mann’s act of posting the video on social media “put the security of Parliament in peril”, she said, adding that all the political leaders she consulted approved of the measures taken.

BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, who was among the first to cite the security risks posed by the video, will head the nine-member panel of parliamentarians. It has been told to submit the probe report by August 3.

The committee got down to work immediately, holding its first meeting the same evening. It was given a report by Parliament’s watch-and-ward section on the video’s security implications, a source told HT.

The Lok Sabha secretariat also forwarded Mann’s letter of apology, which the speaker had rejected, to the panel.

Mahajan asked the MP to give his side of the story to the panel by Tuesday. Mann, however, sought three-day time to furnish his response.

The Sangrur MP had live-streamed the journey from his Delhi home to Parliament House, besides the Lok Sabha balloting system.