West Tripura DM who forcibly stopped wedding citing COVID remains defiant: 'I stand by it'

Refusing to back down, West Tripura DM Shailesh Kumar Jadav who had forcibly stopped a wedding ceremony citing 'COVID restrictions', stated that it was 'his duty to enforce orders' on Thursday. Jadav added that he has submitted his statement before the high-level inquiry committee. Jadav had stopped a wedding ceremony in Agartala while enforcing COVID-19 protocol on Monday night and later apologized for his actions.

West Tripura DM refuses to back down

Tripura DM forcibly stops wedding

Jadav had halted wedding ceremony when it was halfway through at a venue in Agartala citing COVID restrictions and threatened to arrest the groom and his kin for organising the wedding amid the pandemic. In a video of the incident which has gone viral on social media, the DM can be seen barging into the wedding venue at Agartala along with policemen whom he orders to drive other guests out of the venue and threatened to arrest the groom. District Magistrate Sailesh Kumar Yadav can be heard asking the guests to 'get out' while he calls the groom 'idiot'.

The DM claimed that the family had 'violated the government order' on COVID norms and is also seen nudging a policeman to arrest the groom, saying 'put him behind bars'. The DM then pulls the groom by his hand and forces him to reveal his name following which he brings the latter in front of the camera, for what looked like a photo op, while he pushed another man by his neck and claimed that he had to be arrested for 'obstructing public duty'. While a lady attempted to explain to the DM, Jadav continued to say  'you will also be arrested' while he also reportedly tore the permission order received for the wedding.

"I apologise if any individual or group is pained by last night's action. But what was done last night was only for the benefit and well being of people. My aim was not to pain or humiliate anyone," Jadav said in Hindi to reporters on Tuesday. The video went viral on the social media and many leaders of the ruling BJP, including MLA of the area Asish Saha and another lawmaker of the party Sushanta Chowdhury wrote to Manoj Kumar Chief Secretary demanding his removal while West Tripura BJP MP Pratima Bhowmik said she will herself visit the bride's home and speak to her and her family members.