The Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday summoned the executives of a private TV channel for "not cooperating" with a House panel probing its sting operation into alleged political interference during the Muzaffarnagar riots.
All parties, except BJP, supported the resolution to summon the executives by voice-vote after the all-party committee, led by SP MLA Satish Kumar Nigam, tabled its report during Zero Hour and claimed that the channel was not cooperating in the probe.
The channel was asked to provide raw footage of the sting operation, but it had failed to so which amounted to breach of privilege, the report stated. Leader of the BJP Legislature Party Hukum Singh and MLA Laxmi Kant Bajpai, however, alleged that due process was not followed while the committee was formed, and said that as the matter is also being probed by a parliamentary panel, there should be no haste.
The BJP members said the channel had requested that once the parliamentary probe was over they would provide the footage. Senior SP member Ambika Chaudhary said that it was a matter of the dignity of the entire house. Leader of the Opposition Swami Prasad Maurya (BSP) said the committee was constituted so that if the minister was found guilty action should be taken against him, and if there was anything wrong with the sting then action should be taken against the channel.
In September, the House set up the all-party committee to probe the veracity of the sting operation. The channel aired the footage after the Muzaffarnagar riots in which some police officers claimed interference by a senior minister in dealing with the situation.
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