The Speaker of the Gujarat Assembly has ordered an inquiry after photographs of a man sitting on the Speaker’s chair was shared widely on social media, PTI reported on Tuesday.
It is unclear when the man, 23-year-old Rahul Parmar, took the photos, but they were shared after the Budget session ended on March 28, reports said.
Assembly Secretary DM Patel said the Speaker, Rajendra Trivedi, has ordered an inquiry as it was a security breach. “No one except the Speaker can sit on that chair, Patel told PTI. “Besides, only authorised people and legislators are allowed to enter the main hall.”
Patel said the Assembly secretariat will find out how Parmar managed to enter the hall and take pictures. “We may hand over the inquiry to the police,” he said.
“We have almost completed the inquiry, identified the person and traced the path he took to enter the Assembly building,” Patel told The Indian Express.
The photos suggest Parmar entered the hall with another person when the Assembly was not in session, and took photos sitting on the Speaker’s chair, and on an MLA’s seat. He also clicked a selfie with the empty hall in the background, PTI reported.
A report in The Times of India said Parmar wrote to the Bharatiya Janata Party apologising for sitting on the chair. In the letter addressed to Trivedi and left at the party’s office in Vadodara, Parmar reportedly said he was not an active BJP member.
“Parmar came on Sunday evening and left an apology letter at our party office,” Keyur Rokadia, general secretary of the BJP city unit told the newspaper. “He said he has a family to look after and therefore his apology should be accepted.”
“I realise that it is an illegal act and I apologise for it,” the letter read, according to The Times of India.
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