Himachal Pradesh Congress on Saturday raised the issue of misbehaviour with party MLA Anirudh Singh and sought strict action against erring police official.

The Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri raised the issue under point of order on the fourth day of ongoing budget session of state assembly as soon as the house convened.

Agnihotri said the issue pertains to breach of privilege of a public representative as the cop misbehaved with Anirudh Singh in a tourist state where the police official shouldn’t behave in such mannerism.

He sought strict action against the cop and said the Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur himself and Congress member Asha Kumari too had faced such misbehaviour in the past.

Replying to Agnihotri, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur who also holds the charge of Home department, said the incident took place on 22 February when Anirudh Singh was returning home from Chandigarh.

“There was a huge traffic jam at Victory Tunnel near Old Bus Stand in Shimla and Sub Inspector Pawan Banyal was managing traffic. As per Singh’s complaint, he saw Banyal misbehaving with drivers of other vehicles to remove congestion at the spot to which he objected.

This led to Banyal directing Singh to immediately remove the vehicle and leave the spot rudely to which the latter objected and told the cop to behave properly as he was a public representative. To this, the cop said he didn’t know him and he had seen many MLAs and CMs and didn’t care about it.

Singh later filed a complaint with Superintendent of Police Shimla who sent the cop to police lines and an inquiry was ordered which was conducted by ASP,” he added.

He stated that it is a serious issue as misbehaviour with a public representative won’t be tolerated at any cost and the cop has now been suspended.

While asserting that such incidents should not happen and a public representative should be respected, Thakur said sometimes such incidents happen as the cops at busy traffic intersections are under duress due to the pressure to ensure smooth movement of traffic.

Singh has also talked with DGP Sanjay Kundu and further action as per law is being taken against the cop.

HP Vidhan Sabha Speaker Vipin Singh Parmar said the privilege notice has been forwarded to Principal Secretary, Home and assembly Secretary for further action.