UP Assembly turns into courtroom after 58 yrs, 6 policemen sent to one-day custody
In an unprecedented development, the Uttar Pradesh Assembly turned into a courtroom on Friday where it awarded imprisonment for a day to six policemen in connection with a breach of privilege notice given by then BJP MLA Salil Vishnoi in an almost two-decade old case.
The breach of privilege notice dates back to 2004 when Vishnoi was leading a delegation to submit a memorandum against power cuts in Kanpur to the district magistrate (Kanpur Nagar) when the police personnel misbehaved with him.
The UP Assembly was converted into a court and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna imprisoned six policemen for one day (till 12 midnight). During the hearing, all six policemen were asked to stand in a palisade.
During the hearing, one of the accused, then CO Abdul Samad, apologised to the House and sought relief. However, Suresh Khanna sent them to one-day imprisonment.
The policemen will be confined to a room in the Vidhan Sabha building till midnight and all arrangements will be made like food and other facilities for them.
These policemen include then circle officer of Babupurva in Kanpur Nagar, Abdul Samad (now retired); then SHO Kidwai Nagar, Srikant Shukla; then sub inspector Triloki Singh; and then constables Chote Singh, Vinod Mishra and Meharban Singh.
Notably, none of the Samajwadi Party (SP) MLAs were present in the Assembly during the proceedings of the Assembly court. Even the Leader of the Opposition, Akhilesh Yadav, was not present in the House. SP MLAs have staged a walkout from the Assembly over several issues, including less time being given to raise their concerns.
