Agartala, March 31: The Tripura BJP has announced the formation of an inquiry committee to investigate an incident in which party MLA Jadab Lal Debnath was caught on camera watching an obscene video on his mobile phone during a session of the Tripura Assembly.

Tripura unit BJP president Rajib Bhattacharjee issued a notice to Debnath seeking his explanation, but he has not yet responded.

The video of Debnath watching the obscene content during the first three-day session of the newly constituted Tripura Assembly on March 24 and March 27 and 28 went viral on social media, leading to widespread criticism of the MLA. Debnath has denied the allegations and claimed it was a conspiracy against him, saying that he opened a website accidentally while trying to answer a phone call.

However, opposition parties have called for his removal from the Assembly.

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Opposition leader Animesh Debbarma criticized Debnath, saying that elected officials should not set a bad example, particularly for young people. Demanding appropriate action against the legislator, Debbarma, a senior leader of the Tipra Motha Party, said that in 2012, BJP legislators in Karnataka and Gujarat were also caught on camera watching obscene videos and the party immediately took action and they also quit the assembly membership.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Congress also condemned Debnath’s actions and called for action to be taken against him. Birajit Sinha, state Congress chief, said that mobile phones are restricted inside the Assembly and that Debnath’s actions have damaged the reputation of the House. Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman has also called for Debnath’s Assembly membership to be revoked.

Debnath was elected to the state Assembly for the first time in the February 16, 2023 Assembly elections from the Bagbassa assembly constituency in north Tripura. He is also the secretary of BJP’s Tripura state unit.

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