Agartala: Infamous for his short-temper and controversies mostly triggered by it, district magistrate West Tripura Sailesh Kumar Yadav late on Monday night once again found himself entangled in a fresh row after his sudden crackdown at a marriage hall in Agartala.
Yadav was seen manhandling people, the groom and even police personnel after he along with police barged into a marriage hall located at the heart of the city and also heard using abusive languages that people termed “uncalled for” from a person holding such an important post.
In his desperate attempt to enforce the Covid 19 protocols, the DM, as it appeared, became oblivious to the constitutional limits and regulations one responsible official of such stature should follow and did what elicited widespread condemnation and repercussions in the social media and other platforms.
According to the eyewitnesses and the family members of the bride and groom, all the necessary permissions are taken already but there was no specific mention in the permission whether after 10 pm--the time when night curfew comes into force, the permission turns infructuous. The DM who was returning from GBP hospital’s Covid ICU after an inspection noticed the marriage hall’s activities and stopped his convoy there.
Wasting no time, he barged into the hall with police and TSR personnel and forcefully stopped the activities. His highhandedness turned unbearable when he started harassing, slapping, abusing everyone coming in his way irrespective of their age and gender. He did not even leave the cops. Using filthy languages and touching in the foulest way, he directed the police officers over there to shut the marriage hall and arrest all present there.
He did not stop there. After he did get a late response from the Officer-in-charge West Agartala police station, he also ordered his suspension right away putting the onus for all the covid 19 violations on the shoulders of the police. For this, the DM has also invited sharp responses from the police fraternity as it was highly undesirable to get manhandled by an administrative official while in uniform. Some sources said the top cops will seek the Chief Minister’s intervention in the matter.
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Speaking to the media, he categorically said, “they have permission but it does not allow them to continue their programme even after night curfew comes into force. The educated people think they have all the knowledge and the law is not for them. The law will take its own course”. He had also sealed two marriage halls that he visited on Monday night for one year. “I am also recommending suspension of OC West Agartala police station. All those who are roaming in open should be arrested under IPC section 188”, he claimed.
Meanwhile, the marriage was later solemnised with the intervention of MP Pratima Bhowmik. “According to rituals, marriage is a social function that needs to be performed as per the auspicious time meant for it. The incident that took place on Monday could have been avoided. If anyone is hurt due to this, I am seeking an apology for that. One more thing, that I want to say is, the marriage has been solemnised following all the rituals”, said Bhowmik and appealed to everyone to strictly follow the administrative orders to keep the Covid at bay.
MLA Asish Kumar Saha and MLA Sushanta Chowdhury also came down heavily on the act of DM West and sought the intervention of the Chief Minister. “Such acts are really undesirable”, said Saha in a social media post. People from the cross-section of the society irrespective of political, religious and social affiliations condemned the incident and demanded stringent action against DM. However, some people also extended support to the DM’s act of enforcement but condemned his use of unparliamentary language and irresponsible harassment caused to the people.
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