Tripura govt. sets up panel to probe conduct of district magistrate at wedding ceremonies amid night curfew

The Tripura authorities on Wednesday constituted a panel to probe the conduct of a District Magistrate who allegedly abused visitors and households at two wedding ceremonies for flouting COVID-19 restrictions.

West Tripura District Magistrate Shailesh Yadav performed raids on two wedding ceremonies that went towards curfew norms on Monday night.

Video clips of the raid on ‘Golap Bagan’ and ‘Manikya Court’ — owned by the State’s royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarma and his sister – went viral on social media platforms. Both Opposition events and the ruling BJP’s insurgent MLAs lashed out at the State authorities and demanded motion towards the District Magistrate.

The probe panel, comprising two Secretary-level IAS officers Kiran Gitte and Tanusree Debbarma, has been directed to submit the report as early as doable. Sources mentioned Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar ordered the setting up of the panel after he met Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb to talk about the controversy.

Five insurgent MLAs of the ruling celebration hit out at the District Magistrate in a letter addressed to the Chief Secretary, the place they mentioned Mr. Yadav’s actions have been insulting, outrageous and atrocious. They additionally alleged that Mr. Yadav had manhandled a police officer on obligation.

One of the signatory MLAs, Ashish Das, sat on a day-long dharna at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi right here on Wednesday to demand motion. Earlier, the chief of the Opposition and former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar condemned the ‘behaviour’ of the District Magistrate.

However, Mr. Yadav defended his actions underneath Section 144 of the CrPC and denied that he overstepped his limits. He additionally denied having pushed or bodily manhandled anybody at the gatherings, which went into midnight. Night curfew was in place from 10 p.m. as half of the efforts to curb the unfold of COVID-19, he mentioned.