11 member committee constitute to investigate Kabootar Bazi

May 16: “Kabooter bazi� is legal but when pigeons are being replaced by humans, the act becomes illegal. Taking strong notice of the alleged involvement of “honourable� representatives at both central as well as state level, an 11 member committee of Lok Sabah MPs has been constituted today to inquire into the cases of misconduct and misuse of parliamentary privileges and facilities by members.

Allegations of human trafficking against members of parliament have been taken seriously and the committee has been constituted to stop such illegal acts in future. The committee, to be headed by V Kishore Chandra S Deo (Congress), will comprise Gurudas Dasgupta, Anant Geete, C.Kuppusami, V K Malhotra, Shrinivas Patil, Mohammad Salim, Braja Kishore Tripathy, Rajesh Verma, Devendra Prasad Yadav and Pam Gopalk Yadav.

While denouncing one of the worst forms of human trafficking, Lok Sabah Speaker Somnath Chatterjee named 11 member committee saying Babubhai Katara, who is facing charges of human trafficking, has been "requested" not to attend sittings of the House unless he is permitted to do so by him.

The allegations of Human trafficking by MPs came into limelight when sitting MP from Gujarat, Babulal Katara was arrested, at Indira Gandhi International airport here in New Delhi, along with a mother son duo, who were travelling on the passports of MP’s wife and son. Till now the main kingpin, Rashid, along with few other MPs and MLAs have been arrested in the case.

After discussing the human trafficking issue with leaders of various parties on Tuesday, Chatterjee revealed that all of them were in favour of constituting of the committee to inquire into misconduct and misuse of privileges. The committee will recommend action, if any, to be taken in each case.

The committee has been authorised to follow its own procedure, consistent with well-established principles of law and natural justice. The committee will submit its report within a month.

Speaker is yet to decide about to allow the MPs to attend parliament till the committee will come out report.