Om Puri, Kiran Bedi face lawmakers' fury

Members in both Houses of Parliament have given Privilege notices against actor Om Puri and civil rights activist Kiran Bedi for using "derogatory and defamatory" language against politicians and the matter is under consideration of the Chair.

In the Rajya Sabha, a member also attacked lawyer activist Prashant Bhushan for reportedly saying that legislations are passed by Parliament after taking bribe.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Monday said in the House that notices for moving a Privilege Motion against Puri and Bedi for "allegedly" using "derogatory and defamatory" language against politicians have been received.

Kumar said she had received notices from P L Punia, Jagadambika Pal, Ramashankar Rajbhar, Lalchand Kataria, Mirza Aslam Beg, Praveen Aron and Shailendra Kumar.

"The matter is under my consideration," Kumar said.

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During Anna Hazare's agitation at Ramlila grounds on the Lokpal issue, Puri and Bedi had allegedly targeted politicians and used derogatory and defamatory language against them.

In the Rajya Sabha, Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan told agitated members that the privilege notices given by Ramgopal Yadav (SP) and Md Adeeb (Ind) were under consideration of the Chairman.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Upper House, Yadav said that the film actor dubbed Parliamentarians as "thieves" and "incompetent" while speaking from the stage of Hazare on August 26.

He said such statements by the actor is a privilege of MPs and requested the Chair to refer his notice to the Privilege Committee amid thumping of desks by members from all parties.

Puri has, however, regretted making these remarks and said the choice of words was inappropriate.

The actor said he should have used appropriate language for description of the political class.

Bedi also has said that her action on Friday mocking the MPs went against her grain but she did not mean to hurt anybody.

Md Adeeb said Bedi had attacked the MPs on three consecutive days from August 24.

He said lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan had told a news channel that "bills are passed in Parliament by taking bribe."

Kiran Bedi has also ridiculed MPs, he said, adding, "This is contempt of Parliament."

Taking strong objection to Bedi calling politicians "illiterate",  Yadav said such statements erode the dignity of Parliament.

"More than 80 per cent members in this House are graduates and those who are not educated are also more competent than many educated ones," he said citing examples.

Echoing similar views, Shivanand Tewari (JD-U) reminded civil rights activists including Bhushan saying that the person (Anna Hazare) whom they accepted their leader was also truck driver.

This only showed that the uneducated have more understanding than the educated ones. Taking a dig at some ministers without naming them, he said it were the educated ones who misled the government on handling of the Lokpal issue.