‘Did It For Larger Interest Of Society’: Tripura DM Apologises Over Raids During Marriage Ceremony

West Tripura District Magistrate and Collector Shailesh Kumar Yadav, who led the raids in the two marriage halls in Agartala, on Tuesday apologised for disrupting the marriage ceremony.

"If anyone got hurt due to my action, I am apologising for that. I have done this for the larger interest of the society and the people. I have taken the strict action to give a message to the people to maintain the government SOP," Yadav told a local television on Tuesday night.

As many as 31 people, including 19 women, were detained from a marriage party in Tripura for violating the night curfew and other Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) enforced to curb the Covid spread.

However, in another raid at a marriage party in the city, no detentions were made.

Tripura Chief Secretary earlier in an order last week, imposed a night curfew in Agartala Municipal Corporation area from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. from April 22 onwards.

The order said that in closed spaces, a maximum of 50 per cent of the seating or hall capacity should be allowed for any social, cultural, entertainment or political gathering with a ceiling of 100 persons while in open spaces, higher numbers may be allowed based on the size of the ground with a ceiling of 200 persons.

District and police officials said that after getting the information of the violation of the night curfew regulations and SOPs, the West Tripura District Magistrate and Collector Shailesh Kumar Yadav raided two marriage halls in the city where a large number of people comprising men, women and children attended the marriage parties late on Monday night.

On the directions of the DM, police detained 31 people including 19 women for violating the government orders while many others escaped when the police resorted to a mild lathicharge.

However, all the 31 people were subsequently released from the West Agartala police station.

Videos of the incident have gone viral on social media, which were also shared by IAS officers who condemned their fellow officer's behaviour.

The District Magistrate conducted the raid alleging a violation of the Covid-19 night curfew enforced in the state. Following the incident, the bride's brother posted documents on Facebook to claim that they had the required permission for the wedding which was purportedly given by the DM himself.

Officials said that Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has asked Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar to submit a report about the DM's actions in dealing with the holding of the marriage ceremonies defying the night curfew and the SOPs.

Read: I Am Your Bloody DM, Arrest These Guys: Tripura IAS Officer Abuses And Thrashes Wedding Attendees

With IANS Inputs