Jharkhand Speaker suspends MLAs wearing hangman's hood

The MLAs had their head and faces covered with black hoods as they protested against the government on various issues.

"The speaker has not specified numbers. It could be 15 MLAs. This is for the first time that such a thing happened," said a senior official of the Assembly Secretariat.

"Those wearing black topis are suspended for the day," Oraon said after his repeated requests to the opposition members, most of them belonging to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), fell on deaf ears. The speaker s order came after his request to the leader of opposition, Hemant Soren, to ask his MLAs to uncover their faces elicited no response. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Saryu Roy said the agitating MLAs had brought disrepute to the House and demanded action against them.

Rural Development Minister Neelkanth Singh Munda, Revenue and Land Reforms Minister Amar Kumar Bauri and some BJP MLAs protested against the opposition s continued disruption of the House.

Opposition members walked out of the House after the speaker announced the suspension of the MLAs who wore hoods before the budget for 2018-19 was laid on the table of the House by Chief Minister Raghubar Das, who is also the state's finance minister.