New Delhi: Member of Parliament Tejasvi Surya moved a Breach of Privilege Motion with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla against police officials in Kolkata and Howrah for manhandling, assaulting and obstructing him and two others from performing their duties as MPs. Surya requested the Speaker that the police officials, whose actions amounted to assault and attempt to murder, be summoned before the Parliamentary Committee on Privileges.
Birla assured the Bengaluru South MP that he would look into the matter and forward the complaint to the Privileges Committee of Parliament.
The attempt to murder and assault charges are related to a protest march organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) in Howrah, West Bengal, on October 8. In his motion letter, Surya, the BJYM National President, claimed he and fellow MPs Nisith Pramanik (representing Cooch Behar), Jyotirmay Singh Mahato (Purulia), Saumitra Khan (Bishnupur) and Locket Chatterjee (Hoogly) were attacked with tear gas shells, country bombs and water cannons mixed with a hazardous chemical. Surya also alleged in his letter that he and two other MPs were manhandled at the Jorasanko Police Station in Kolkata when they had gone to file a complaint against the police violence. Police obstructed him and other representatives from performing their duty as Members of Parliament, Surya said.
Birla said he would forward the letter to the Parliamentary Committee on Privileges for further action, which may summon the police officials before the panel.
“There is complete breakdown of law and order in West Bengal,” Surya told reporters after his meeting with Birla. “The people live in a state of fear because any dissenting voice is suppressed violently by west bengal govt. authorities. Over 120 BJP functionaries have been brutally killed in the last 2 years in Bengal. Only a BJP government can save Bengal from its current state of disorder,” added the youth wing president of the BJP.
In his representation to Birla, Surya alleged that he, Mahato and Pramanik were humiliated at the Jorasanko Police Station when they had gone to file a complaint on the attempt to murder charges. The letter alleges that the police refused to file an FIR and violated Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. As per Section 154 of the CRPC, it is mandatory for an officer in charge of any police station to register a complaint of a cognizable offence right before the informant.
Explaining how the police’s actions amounted to a breach of the privileges accorded to an MP, Surya said: “I was in Kolkata for the protest to raise awareness and bring attention to the poor state of the economy of West Bengal, the rampant corruption in recruitment and school service commission. We were carrying out our solemn duty as MPs of raising our voice to express the anguish and concerns of the common people of India, to defend their democratic rights and represent their concerns and interests. We were not only impeded at our work but we were, including a female Member of Parliament present with us, manhandled, assaulted with tear gas shells and water cannons and crude bombs. This amounts to a breach of privilege where non-members are found to be obstructing or assaulting”