Lawyer takes off shirt, shouts slogan against PM at function

The 32-year-old man headed RJD's Delhi legal cell, party chief Lalu disbands unit.

Santosh Kumar Suman, a 32-year-old lawyer who was Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) Delhi unit legal cell chief, shouted slogans against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as he got up to make a speech at a conference in the high security Vigyan Bhawan on Saturday morning.

As Singh walked up to the lectern, Suman stood on the desk, took off his shirt and shouted: "Prime Minister, go back. Roll back diesel prices".

Singh was attending a conference, organised by Indian Law Institute, on Economic Growth in Asia and Changes of Corporate Environment. Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia, Law Minister Salman Khurshid and a number of legal luminaries from across Asia were present at the event.

Special Protection Group (SPG) and other security personnel whisked Suman — a lawyer at Patialia House Courts and a member of the Supreme Court Bar Association — out of the hall.

Police said Suman, who lives in East Delhi's Shakarpur, entered the auditorium using a "proper" invitation card.

"The SPG handed him over to us," an officer said.

He was let off in the evening. Delhi Police PRO Rajan Bhagat said: "No case has been registered."

"Police let me go after a phone call from the PMO. My intention was only to stage a protest, not to hurt anyone. I will keep protesting whenever the need arises," Suman said after his release.

He had earlier filed a petition in the Delhi High Court seeking prosecution of the Prime Minister in the cash-for-vote scam.

The High Court, in the last week of August, dismissed his petition and slapped a fine of Rs 1 lakh for filing the "frivolous petition" with malafide intention.

Soon after Saturday's incident, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, a constituent of the ruling UPA coalition, disbanded the Delhi unit of the party. "I strongly condemn it. Suman was made a member of the party by the Delhi state unit without verifying his credentials. He was made the in-charge (of the legal cell) one-and-half-year ago," he said.

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