Mishra slams Punjab Police action

Delhi Law and Justice Minister Kapil Mishra on Tuesday said the complaint made by Iqbal Singh and the subsequent actions taken by the Punjab Police, including the registration of an FIR, are a disregard for the constitutional safeguard provided under Article 361A of the Constitution of India and constitute a serious breach of the privileges of the House.

Stating this in a letter written to Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta, he also said the initiation of criminal proceedings in connection with the publication of a substantially true account of Assembly proceedings amounts to interference with the functioning and authority of the Legislature.  Mishra requested that the matter be taken cognisance of and referred to the Committee of Privileges for appropriate examination and action.

In his letter, the Minister referred to Article 361A, which provides that no person shall be liable to any civil or criminal proceedings for the publication, in any form, of a substantially true report of the proceedings of Parliament or a State Legislature, unless such publication is proved to have been made with malice. The article further clarifies that this protection does not apply to the publication of reports of secret sittings.

Mishra recalled in the letter that on 6 January, the House witnessed disorder following objectionable and derogatory remarks made by the Leader of Opposition Atishi, who spoke against the Sikh Gurus, leading to the disruption of the proceedings.

He also said on 9 January, Abhay Verma, Chief Whip, informed the House that an FIR had been registered by the Jalandhar Police alleging that the minister had uploaded a doctored video clip of the House proceedings on social media. 

Referring to a press release issued by the Commissioner of Police, Jalandhar, the Minister stated that the video clip in question was downloaded from his social media handle and that allegations of deliberate doctoring were levelled against him.

Mishra noted that the FIR registration received wide media coverage and that copies of the relevant news reports were enclosed with the letter.