Major security breach in Parliament: 2 men jump into Lok Sabha gallery with canisters

In a major security breach in Parliament, two persons jumped into the main chamber of Lok Sabha when the Lower House was in session this afternoon. The incident took place at around 1 pm when the Zero Hour was on.

Congress MP from Amritsar Gurjeet Singh Aujla was prompt enough to nab the men. The other MPs rushed in and caught hold of both the intruders.

Speaking to Northeast Live, Assam MP Rajdeep Roy, who was inside the Parliament during the time of the incident said, “Just before 1 p.m when the zero-hour was going on, all of a sudden we see a person jump into the Lok Sabha from the gallery. He jumped down 12-15 feet and landed near the feet of one of the MPs and from there he sprayed some sort of gas. Thankfully he was overpowered by some of the MPs who pounced on him and handed him over to security forces. The house was consequently adjourned.”

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, speaking to media said, “Suddenly two people from the visitors’ gallery jumped into the house. They had canisters in their hands. These canisters were emitting yellow smoke, one was attempting to run towards the speaker’s chair but they were overpowered. They were shouting some slogans which I could not make out but the fact that two people could come into the visitor’s gallery carrying gas-emitting objects, the smoke could have been toxic is a serious breach of security.”

Just metres away from the Parliament, two protestors, a man and a woman were arrested by Police near the Transport Bhavan for protesting with coloured smoke billowing canisters.

Today’s incident has happened exactly 22 years later when on this day five terrorists had entered the Parliament House Complex at around 11:40 am in a car fitted with forged Home Ministry sticker on its windshield. Security forces deployed at the Parliament got suspicious and the car was forced to turn back but the terrorists opened fire killing eight security personnel and a gardener and injuring 15 others.

Security has been beefed up, all roads leading towards Parliament Street are now closed.

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