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Tamil Nadu
By Our Special Correspondent
The Constitution provided immunity to legislators to express their views freely within the Assembly, but if they resorted to criminal acts in violation of the law outside the House, it was the duty of the Government to initiate legal action, the Speaker asserted. The Speaker's ruling, read out from a prepared text, came immediately after the Chief Minister's defence of the arrest of the DMK MLAs, insisting that their incarceration would in no way amount to a breach of privilege. Earlier, the Congress Legislature Party leader, S. R. Balasubramaniam, raising the privilege issue against the Chief Minister, the Chennai Police Commissioner, the QMC principal and the superintendent of the Cuddalore jail, where Mr. Stalin and others were lodged, said the MLAs had gone to the college only to perform their duty as legislators and bring about an amicable settlement of the agitation by students.
`Immunity violated'
Insisting that the MLAs were endowed with special powers in the Constitution, he said the arrest violated the immunity provided to legislators under Article 194. Moreover, the police and the principal committed a breach of privilege, imputing a motive to the legislators' legitimate action. And, the watchman committed an offence under Section 341 IPC, preventing the MLAs from entering the college. Hence, as the Chief Minister headed the Home Ministry, under which the Police department came, she also committed a breach of privilege, Mr. Balasubramaniam said.
Jayalalithaa counters charges
Countering, the Chief Minister said the police had not prevented the five DMK MLAs from entering the college. Only they had unlawfully trespassed into the premises and prevented the watchman from carrying out his duties. Besides, the MLAs had committed offences under the IPC on five counts — unlawful assembly, trespass, assault on a public servant during the execution of his official duty, criminal intimidation and ``abetment of students''. As for violation of immunity provided to the legislators, Ms. Jayalalithaa citing a Supreme Court observation, said the MLAs were not entitled to any immunity under Article 194 for offences committed by them outside Assembly precincts. Pointing out that the Congress leader had included the Cuddalore jail superintendent in his privilege notice, she said the prison officials lodged the MLAs in jail only after the judge had remanded them to custody. ``Is Mr. Balasubramaniam saying the judge had also committed a breach of privilege by remanding the MLAs to judicial custody?'' In his ruling, the Speaker read out the criminal charges against the five MLAs and said the police only took legal action against the legislators, who had indulged in acts contrary to the law, without performing their democratic duty in the Assembly. Citing similar instances of arrests of MLAs during the previous DMK regime, he ruled that there was no question of raising a privilege issue on the arrest of the DMK MLAs.
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