The Lok Sabha was adjourned for an hour soon after it assembled on Tuesday following an allegation of police assault by Congress MP from Ludhiana Ravneet Singh Bittu and a DMK MP also complaining that some people “barged” in his room asking about his party’s “Parliamentary agenda.”
The Congress MP charged that around 100 Delhi policemen charged at them at ‘Vijay Chowk’ when they were “marching in solidarity” with the farmers. He said police assaulted them thinking they were farmers.
Speaking in the house, Bittu alleged that police “brutally assaulted” him and his three MP colleagues from Punjab Santokh Singh Choudhary, Jasbir Singh Gill and Gurjeet Sing Aujla, when they were all taking out a candle light march from Parliament House to Rashtrapati Bhavan on the issue of farm bills.
“We told them we are parliamentarians and sit with the Prime Minister but to no avail. Police didn’t know we were MPs. They thought we were farmers and beat us up badly. I had a bad left knee fracture, which has gone worse after the assault and other MPs have also suffered injuries. This is horrifying,” Bittu said in the LS.
The Congress MP also said he and other MPs sustained severe injuries in the process.
Speaker Om Birla assured the MP a full probe into the incident and protection both inside and outside Parliament.
Bittu and Santokh Choudhary submitted written representations to the Speaker providing the sequence of events starting 7 pm on Monday.
Prior to this a DMK member in the House also alleged that some people barged in his room in Tamil Nadu Bhawan (where he is staying), describing themselves as “IB sleuths” and asked him about his party’s programme and “interrogated” him on his party’s Parliamentary agenda.
The Speaker asked the MP to give details in writing and cautioned him that the information should be “authentic”. DMK leader TR Balu also backed his party MP on the issue.
“Safety of all MPs is my responsibility and I will get these issues investigated but I need written complaints. I have received letters from Ravneet Bittu and Santokh Choudhary,” Birla said.
Amidst slogan-shouting from opposition members against the Government, seeking protection from the Speaker, the house proceedings were adjourned for an hour.
