Stop ‘selective leak’ of CCTV footage, order detailed probe: CPI MP to RS secretary-general on Aug 11 ruckus

PTI, Aug 14, 2021, 6:37 PM IST

CPI MP Binoy Viswam has written to the secretary-general of Rajya Sabha requesting him to conduct a detailed probe into the events of August 11 and alleged that ”selective leaking” of CCTV footage of the House was done to put the blame on the Opposition and ”mislead” the country.

The Opposition and the government have been blaming each other for the ruckus in the Uppper House on Wednesday.

In the letter, Viswam alleged that he, along with other opposition members, was ”physically manhandled and targeted by unknown personnel in Parliament”.

The MP demanded that the complete footage of the House on August 11 be provided to the Opposition members, against whom such allegations were being made, along with all complaints and documents about them.

He alleged that the government tried to ”bulldoze the passing of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021” despite ”requests from the Opposition and even their own allies to send the bill to a Select Committee”.

”Upon the devious attempts by the government to pass this anti-people bill, we exercised our right as Parliamentarians to protest the same and it is only the bringing in of over 40 personnel, whose identity is unknown and suspect, that lead to the chaos in the well of the house,” he claimed.

He also alleged that there was a ”deliberate move” to create multiple cordons of security, which resulted in members of the Opposition, including female MPs being manhandled.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi had alleged that Opposition members had manhandled marshals and cited the CCTV footage from Rajya Sabha.

He had demanded that the Rajya Sabha chairman constitute a special committee to probe the misbehaviour and indiscipline by opposition members and strict action taken against them.

In his letter, Viswam alleged, ”I was personally targeted by 4-5 of these outsiders who grabbed hold of me and physically assaulted me. ” He accused the government of portraying a ”biased and concocted narrative against members of the Opposition”.

He condemned, what he called, the ”selective leaking of privileged property” of the Rajya Sabha in the form of CCTV footage and internal documents and filing of false allegations by the marshals alleging assault by the Opposition MPs.

It shows that the government is ”actively trying to mislead the country and whitewash its draconian actions during this session,” he alleged.

For a fair and just probe into the incident, it is imperative that the Rajya Sabha not be ”turned into a political tool for the Government and selective leaks related to the events of 11th August must be stopped immediately,” he said.