The Speaker of the Odisha Assembly on Tuesday suspended Congress MLA Naba Kishore Das for allegedly watching pornographic videos on his cell phone when the winter session was underway in the House on Monday.
Speaker Niranjan Pujari suspended Das, the MLA from Jharsuguda, for seven days. He has referred the issue to Ethics Committee of the Assembly, headed by BJD MLA Ranendra Pratap Swain, for further investigations, Odisha Times reported.
Das, claiming innocence, said that he was surfing the Internet when he accidentally opened the video.
"The way the Speaker has suspended me for seven days is undemocratic. As I had told yesterday that I was opening e-mail and the videos in YouTube opened accidentally. I would urge him to reconsider the decision and order a probe," Das told reporters outside the Assembly.
The incident came to light after a local news channel aired the video that showed Das watching the pornographic video. Following this, Biju Janata Dal's women's wing president Pramila Mallick demanded an action against Das for watching an obscene video inside the House.
"The Congress member allegedly watched an adult video inside the House. It is a matter of shame for all of us, particularly the women members. I demand strong action against him and a probe into the matter," Mallick said, according to PTI report.
This is the third such incident in the Indian political history. In 2012, three BJP legislators were caught watching porn inside the Karnataka Assembly. After a few months, two BLP MLAs were caught in a similar act inside the Gujarat Assembly.
