Srinagar:
There was chaos in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Monday over the Shopian case with opposition PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti wrenching a mike out of the Speaker's podium and throwing it away after which she and her party MLAs were removed from the House.
Trouble started shortly after the House assembled on Monday morning on the opening day of the budget session with National Conference (NC) member Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan trying to draw the attention of the Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone to an "important issue" which was objected to by the PDP members.
Mufti led her party members into the well of the House where she snatched the mike and was about to wrench another even as other PDP members shouted slogans and said that the Shopian rape and murder case involving two women was more important than anything else.
The PDP members raised slogans like "Shopian kay katiloon ko pesh karo" (bring to book the culprits in the Shopian case).
In the midst of the unruly situation, Lone directed the watch and ward staff to remove Mufti and her MLAs from the House. The watch and ward staff assisted by security personnel had to jostle with the members while taking them out.
Mufti later accused the Speaker of using "unparliamentary" language and acting more like a "ruling NC worker" in the House.
Before directing for eviction of the PDP members, the Speaker pointing towards Mehbooba said, "I name you, please take your seats."
While the rest of the PDP members were escorted out, Mehbooba resisted for few minutes to which Lone said, "Take this lady out."
Taking a strong exception to the behaviour of PDP members, the Speaker said he will not allow the House to function at the "sweet will" of treasury or opposition benches.
In the meantime, the three-member National Panthers Party also jumped into the well of the House and started raising slogans. They too were taken out of the House by the watch and ward staff.
Earlier, when the House met at 10 AM, leader of the 11-member BJP legislature group Chaman Lal Gupta accused the Speaker of skipping of question hour.
He said there was no need for the House members to submit their question if they could not raised them.
At this, the Speaker quipped, "How do you presume that the question hour has been skipped? There will be question hour."