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Consent of the Speaker of the Assembly not mandatory for arrest of any MLA, says Secretary of JK Assembly

‘Police can take action against any MLA and inform the speaker before arrest, after release’

Srinagar: Secretary of the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly has said that consent of the Speaker of the Assembly is not mandatory for the arrest of any MLA but has to be informed before or at the time of arrest and after the release.

Talking to Kashmir News Services (KNS) Secretary of Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Ratan Lal clarified that under sections 258 and 259 of the rules of the procedures and conduct of business of the state assembly it is not mandatory for police to seek the consent of Speaker Assembly for the arrest of any MLA but has to inform the Speaker Assembly at the time of arrest or before the arrest and after the release.

It is in place to mention here that several top political parties have demand the arrest of BJP MLA from Basholi, Jammu Chowdhary Lal Singh for threatening Kashmiri journalists of “Shujaat-like incident” if they don’t draw a line.

Following this controversial remark the Editors Guild of India, the top media body of the country has urged the Governor N N Vohra to take strict action against Lal Singh over his criminal remark.

BJP’s Singh, who was the Forest Minister in the cabinet of Mehbooba Mufti, was forced to resign after he participated in rally which was taken out in support of the accused in the gruesome rape and murder of an eight year old girl in Kathua earlier this year.

While addressing a presser in Jammu, in which he once again demanded a CBI probe into the matter, Singh said, “They (Kashmir’s journalists) have created wrong atmosphere about the whole case. Now, I would like to ask them to draw a line of journalism and think about how to live.”

Shujaat Bukhari, founding editor of the Rising Kashmir was assassinated on June 14 by unidentified gunmen outside his office in Srinagar, a day before Eid and few minutes before Iftaar (breaking of Fast during Ramzan). Bukhari succumbed to his injuries and was declared brought dead at the hospital.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein during his opening statement of the 38th session of the Human Rights Council on Monday said that he was deeply saddened by the assassination of veteran journalist Shujaat Bukhari.

While calling him a human rights defender, Hussein said, “I am tremendously saddened by the assassination last week of Shujaat Bukhari, a courageous human rights defender actively working for peace, including through his participation in the Track Two diplomacy seeking to help both India and Pakistan put an end to the violence.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists while strongly condemned the killing of the editor said that Indian authorities must bring killers of Bukhari to justice.

(With inputs from KNS)

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