The Tripura Assembly on Monday witnessed a bizarre scene during the house proceedings when a legislator ran away with the Speaker's mace, stalling legislative business.
The incident occurred when Congress and Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislators approached the Speaker's podium and began shouting slogans against Forest and Rural Development Minister Naresh Jamatia, who has been accused of being involved in a sex scandal.
Amid the uproar, Trinamool Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman seized the Speaker's mace and ran away with it, bringing the Assembly proceedings to a halt.
The Watch-and-Ward staff, led by the Marshal, followed Barman and brought the mace back a few minutes before Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath went to his chamber.
According to reports, Barman later apologised for the act. It is yet to be ascertained if any action will be taken against the MLA.
This is the third such instance when an opposition legislator has run away with the symbolic silver mace in the midst of an assembly setting – since Tripura became a full-fledged state in January 1972.
“Barman raised a womanising issue during Zero Hour without any prior notice. Then the opposition members came to the well of the house and started shouting slogans. Suddenly, Barman ran out of the house with the mace. He should not have done it,” the Speaker later told reporters.
When the house reassembled after recess, Debnath criticised the act. "This is against parliamentary traditions, practice and procedure," the Speaker said.
The ruckus began when Barman cited media reports, as well as the allegation made by an expelled CPI(M) leader, to demand Jamatia’s resignation. However, Jamatia refuted the allegation and told the house that he has filed a case in a local court against the newspaper.
(With inputs from IANS)
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