The Privilege Committee of Maharashtra Assembly on Thursday recommended 90-days' imprisonment for Manjit Sethi, president of an association fighting for the rights of bar owners, for using 'threatening and derogatory' language against the elected representatives, including a minister.
The Privilege Committee chairman Chandrakant Chhajed of the Congress, in his report tabled before the state Legislative Assembly, recommended that Sethi, with his outbursts, was posing danger to society and there was an urgent need to curb such a tendency.
Therefore, Sethi should be awarded 90 days' imprisonment, he added.
Immmediately after the government had banned dance bars in the state on March 30, Sethi had announced that 'dance bar girls would not allow ministers' wives to freely move around the city'.
Bharatiya Janata Party member Sudhir Mungattiwar, while raising the issue of threat by Sethi directed towards Home Minister R R Patil, urged that it be treated as a breach of privilege.
Sethi, in his submission before the Committee, had admitted to have said such a thing to a newspaper and added that his utterances did not constitute a breach of privilege and, therefore, should be withdrawn and proceedings be dropped.
The Committee members included legislators Sudhakar Paricharak, Bacchu Kadu, Nasim Khan, Ashok Jagtap, Bala Nandgaonkar, Ashish Jaiswal, Annasaheb Mane Patil, Sudhir Mungattiwar and Hemant Patle, besides officials.
