In a rare exercise, the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha was converted into a court on March 3 and awarded a retired police officer and five serving policemen to one-day imprisonment inside a room in the Vidhan Bhawan complex deemed as a cell over using force against a then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Salil Vishnoi and his supporters in 2004.
Pronouncing the verdict on the recommendations of special privilege committee under Article 194 of the Indian Constitution which discusses in detail about powers and privileges of the legislature and its members, U.P. Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana said these policemen crossed the ‘Lakshman Rekha’ and sent them to a room in the Vihan Bhawan complex that was considered a cell.
The convicts were: Abdul Samad retired in February 2022, Chotte Singh Yadav, Rishikant Shukla, Vinod Mishra, Triloki Singh and Meherban Singh Yadav. “Their is a ‘Lakshman Rekha’, for all those working in government service. I believe all the guilty should be punished with imprisonment till midnight,” said the Speaker while adding that these convicts should be provided food and other necessary facilities.
When Mr. Mahana in his capacity as a judge pronounced conviction, all the parties except the Samajwadi Party, which was in power when the incident happened and its ally the Rashtriya Lok Dal, were present in the Assembly. In the matter going back to September 15, 2004, Mr. Vishnoi, now a member of the State’s Legislative Council from the saffron party, was leading a protest over power cuts in Kanpur when the face-off with the district administration happened. Mr. Vishnoi suffered leg fracture during the clashes.
It is said that such similar exercise in Vidhan Sabha took place in March, 1989 when Shankar Dutt Ojha, an official working with the State’s Terai Vikas Janjati Nigam, was called in the Vidhan Sabha after being accused of misbehaving with a MLA.
