Trinamool Congress' Sudip Roy Barman ran away with the Tripura Assembly speaker's mace
Highlights
- Trinamool lawmaker Sudip Roy Barman seized Speaker's mace and ran away
- Barman followed by the Marshal for over a minute to bring the mace back
- Incident occurred while debating on 'womanising' issue against a minister
A lawmaker picks up the Speaker's ceremonial mace and makes a dash for it in bizarre visuals from the Tripura Assembly, where there were chaotic protests today. Sudip Roy Burman, 50, was unstoppable as he hot-footed it across the house, dodging the marshals including a particularly persistent one.
Mr Burman is a member of the Trinamool Congress. This morning, he and other lawmakers gathered around the Speaker, shouting slogans against Forest Minister Naresh Jamatia.
Suddenly, Mr Burman climbed up and grabbed the mace before running away, bringing the house to a stop. It is hard to tell what the lawmaker was thinking.
A marshal followed him and retrieved the mace.
"This is against parliamentary traditions, practice and procedure," Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath told reporters in his chamber.
Mr Debnath said that the Trinamool lawmaker raised a subject without notice and then started protesting around the Chair along with other opposition members.
"Suddenly, Barman ran out of the house with the mace. He should not have done it," he said.
Mr Barman had referred to media reports while targeting the minister in the house over an alleged scandal and asking for his resignation. Mr Jamatia has strongly denied the allegation. He told the house that he had sued the newspaper that carried the report against him.
This is the third time that an opposition lawmaker in Tripura has run away with the symbolic silver mace in the middle of the session.
(With inputs from IANS)