The Delhi Assembly on Thursday suspended BJP legislator OP Sharma from the House for the next two sessions for making "derogatory" remarks against AAP MlA Alka lamba inside the Vidhan Sabha premises in November 2015.
Earlier, the report of the Ethics Committee of the Delhi Assembly, tabled in the House on Wednesday, had "unanimously' recommended stripping Sharma of his membership for his remarks against lamba five months back and being "unrepentant" about it. It had also called him a habitual offender.
AAP MlA Bhavna Gaur, a member of the Ethics Committee, had moved the proposal in the House seeking action against him, saying he did not show any regret over his comments.
Following a discussion over the proposal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he should be given one more chance to apologise for his remarks.
On his part, Sharma said, "My intention was not to hurt lamba as she is like my sister, but if she felt offended I express regret over it."
After Sharma's comments, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia proposed that the BJP legislator should be suspended for two subsequent sessions as he has "not apologised but only expressed regret".
Participating in the discussion, BJP MlA Vijender Gupta accused the ruling party of harassing BJP legislators and said the Ethics Commitee comprised only AAP MlAs.
"They are murdering the democracy and cannot tolerate us. We are not allowed to speak as we are not in majority," he said.
Earlier, the three members of the Opposition staged a walkout protesting moving of the resolution under Rule 107 to expel Sharma "even before the motion to adopt the Ethics Committee report".
"First, the issue is not of public interest which is the criteria of moving a motion under Rule 107. Second, when you have a report on the same issue inside the House, how can you move a resolution on the same issue before discussions on the reportIJ This is an insult of the House," Gupta said.
Gupta also alleged that the Ethics Committee was biased in its proceedings as it did not summon either Gupta or Jagdish Pradhan to know the sequence of events when they both were the closest to the action sitting right beside Sharma.
"Also, the Ethics Committee did not even consider the other issue that was raised about the unfortunate incident that happened on November 24. I had tried to raise the issue in the House how the minority Opposition was attacked inside the premises on the directions of Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. The Speaker had refused to allow me to speak about the issue in the House but had assured that he will send it as well to the Ethics Committee. But there is no mention of the same in the whole report," he said.
In November last year, Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel had suspended Sharma for rest of the Winter Session for using derogatory language against lamba inside the House. Goel had also referred the matter to the Ethics Committee for further probe.
"From the proceedings of Nov 25, 2015 it is abundantly clear that Sharma used the words raat bhar ghumne wali (woman who roams the whole night) in the most derogatory and defamatory sense against lamba. It amounted to character assassination. He has shown neither remorse nor sign of learning from his past mistakes and is a habitual offender. The committee is left with no choice but to recommend expulsion of Sharma from the membership of the sixth legislative assembly of Delhi," the Ethics panel report had said.
Sharma, who is no stranger to controversy, was last month caught on camera beating a CPI activist at Patiala House court complex when JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar was being produced. Days later he was arrested for the assault but released on bail.