In a historic hearing, the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Friday sentenced six policemen to a day’s imprisonment after they were found guilty of lathi-charging on then BJP MLA Salil Vishnoi and his supporters during a protest almost two decades ago. The sentence was pronounced by Speaker Satish Mahana, who accused them of crossing the 'Lakshman Rekha'.
The House Committee of Privileges recommended the punishment for the officers earlier, acting on a breach of privilege notice issued by Vishnoi in 2004. Leaders of several parties authorized the Speaker to take a decision on the matter, including the Bahujan Samaj Party, Congress, Apna Dal (Sonelal), Jansatta Dal Loktantrik, Nishad party, and Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party.
According to news agency PTI, this was the first time in 34 years that the Assembly had been turned into a court. Vishnoi, who is now a BJP member of the UP Legislative Council, was leading a delegation to submit a memorandum on powercuts in Kanpur to the district magistrate on September 15, 2004, when the confrontation took place. The privilege notice served by the then MLA the next month said he and the party workers were taking out a silent procession when policemen led by the circle officer hurled abuses at them and charged towards them with lathis, injuring half a dozen workers. The MLA suffered a fractured leg and was hospitalised under police custody.
The policemen, who were summoned for punishment, were given the opportunity to defend themselves. The officers were to be confined there till midnight, but the Speaker made it clear that they should be treated well. He ordered arrangements for food and other facilities.
During the hearing, the then circle officer, Abdul Samad, asked for forgiveness for the mistake "committed knowingly or unknowingly during the discharge of official work". Another officer promised that there would be no mistakes in the future. Samad is now retired. The other five officers who appeared in the House are the then Kidwai Nagar SHO Srikant Shukla, then sub-inspector Triloki Singh, and then constables Chote Singh, Vinod Mishra, and Meharban Singh.
The punishment could have been more severe, as the privileges committee had mentioned the option of suspending the policemen from service, but they had apologised. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna moved a resolution for one day’s imprisonment for the police officers. Khanna said elected representatives work for the welfare of the public, and policemen do not have the right to use batons and abuse them.
The last time the UP Assembly witnessed a similar incident was on March 2, 1989, when an officer of the then UP Terai Vikas Janjati Nigam, Shankar Dutt Ojha, was summoned after being accused of misbehaving with a legislator, an Assembly official said.