Plea in HC against Speaker decision to send two to jail

Two persons, who were sent to jail for 30 days by the Delhi Assembly Speaker for throwing pamphlets in the House and raising slogans during a session, today moved a plea in the Delhi High Court claiming their detention was illegal.
The petition moved by the two detainees has alleged that Speaker Ram Niwas Goel's June 28 decision was taken without hearing them and therefore, it was "absolutely illegal and violates the principles of natural justice".
While seeking immediate release of the petitioners, the plea also sought quashing of the order of the Speaker.
The petitioners, Jagdeep Rana and Rajan Kumar Madan, who were sitting in the Visitors Gallery, had hurled pamphlets and raised slogans demanding resignation of Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain. They had claimed they were allegedly thrashed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs.

In their petition, they have claimed that their intention was to draw the attention of the government and the AAP leaders to the "glaring issues of corruption" plaguing the party.
In their plea filed through advocate Pradeep Rana, they claimed to have no intention of breaching the privilege of the legislative assembly, commit contempt of the same, damage any property or harm any of the legislators.

Jagdeep, who claims to be the Vice President of AAP's Delhi Unit, and Madan, who says he is incharge of the AAP for the states of Punjab and Chhattisgarh, have contended that no reason has been recorded for awarding them such a severe punishment.

"The legislative assembly has no powers to grant rigorous imprisonment, whereas in the present case the Speaker was pleased to impose rigorous imprisonment on the petitioners without jurisdiction.
"It is also not recorded as to why the other modes of sentencing as prescribed in the rules were not adopted to," the petition said.
It also claimed "the petitioners were remanded to custody without affording them an opportunity of being heard apparently to ensure that the petitioners cannot file and pursue a criminal complaint against the legislators, who beat the petitioners mercilessly.