Sakshi Chhabra
District Magistrate of West Tripura, Shailesh Kumar Yadav was slammed for being ‘too strict’.
He was seen stopping a wedding which was run past the curfew hours in West Tripura.
In a video that went viral on social media he was seen stopping a wedding ceremony on 26 April at Manikya court in Agartala.
This wedding was still going on after 10 pm when the night curfew started off in the Agartala Municipal Council (AMC).
He was seen slapping the priest at the wedding, and arresting the people attending the wedding long with the Bride and Groom.
He was also seen tearing up the written permission which he himself signed, later over 30 people were arrested but released later.
The District Magistrate who faced criticism for his actions on the night of April 26, soon apologized.
He stated that it was not his intention to hurt anyone’s sentiments, but he was just following the protocols and doing his duty.
Immediately after this incident took place, the Chief Minister of Tripura Biplab Kumar Deb asked to set up a committee to look into the case.
He appointed Manoj Kumar as the Chief Secretary of the inquiry committee. Two more senior IAS officers were also appointed in the said committee.
The DM Shailesh Kumar Yadav said, “The committee summoned me to give evidence. I arrived at 3 pm and submitted by statement and other relevant documents, including orders issued by me, orders issued under section 144 of the CrPC. They asked me some questions and I have honestly replied to them.”
“It is my duty to enforce law and order in the designated areas and to prevent the spread of COVID. This is what I did that night. I stand by whatever I did.”, he further stated.
After the video of the incident went viral many people raged against the DM.
They asked as to that how can he disrupt a wedding during the muhurat and tear up the permission sanctioned by himself.
Some people were in absolute favor of the DM saying that he was just doing his duty and was right on stopping the wedding ceremony in this covid situation.
BJP MLAs Sudip Roy Barman, Ashish Kumar Saha and Sushant Chowdhury started a ‘dharna’ for the same near Agartala Circuit House and also asked for the removal of DM.
Curfew was imposed in the state of Tripura after cases were increasing day by day.