Bangalore:
City Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari on Monday justified the entry of police into the Assembly, saying it was done at the instruction of the Speaker K G Bopaiah to control the situation.
He said the police entered the Assembly after a written request and instructions from the Speaker stating that the situation inside the House was out of control and the Civil Police also should help in controlling the situation.
"The civil police have entered the Assembly Hall and have controlled the situation and prevented any untoward incidents from taking place," Bidari said. "The police have discharged their duty as per the law of the land and as per the request and instructions from the Speaker," he said.
He said that at the outside gate of the Assembly hall when the Marshal of the Assembly and his staff tried to prevent the five disqualified MLAs from entering the Assembly Hall despite their disqualification, they were assaulted by these MLAs and other members of the Opposition accompanying them.
"As a result, 16 members of the watch and ward staff have suffered injuries. In this connection, a case is being registered and investigation will be taken up," Bidari said.
He said five disqualified members with some other members of the Opposition forcibly entered the Assembly Hall and damaged the glass at the entrance gate of the Assembly besides assaulting the public servants on duty.
On the allegation by some MLAs that he tried to prevent their entry into the Assembly Hall, Bidari said the fact was that the Speaker and the staff of the Assembly had designated one particular door for entry of members of the opposition, but they wanted to enter by another door which was closed as per the orders of the Speaker.
"The Opposition members were trying to break open the door. When I came to know that, I went there and tried to persuade them to enter the Assembly Hall through the designated door," he said.
Since they declined and persisted to enter the House by that particular door only, Bidari said he personally went to the Speaker and told him that there was no harm in opening the particular door also for the entry of the Opposition members.
Accordingly, the Speaker permitted the opening of the door from which they wanted to enter the Assembly Hall and as per his request and approval given by the Speaker, the particular door from which the entry was not permitted was also opened.
"The allegation that I have prevented entry to members of the Opposition from entering the Assembly Hall is false, baseless and mala-fide. This is corroborated by the audio visuals available with the media," he added.