New Delhi, August 23
A Parliamentary Committee has recommended suspension of Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Rajesh Kumar Manjhi from Lok Sabha for 30 sittings. The resolution to adopt Manjhi’s suspension is likely to be adopted by Parliament tomorrow.

The harsh recommendation came after Manjhi’s wife Pramila requested Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to take action against her husband as he had been allegedly travelling across the country with some other woman posing as his wife.

Besides recommending his reprimand and suspension for 30 sittings, the committee said Manjhi should also "be restrained from taking his spouse or companion on official tours till the conclusion of the 14th Lok Sabha."

This is the second time such a recommendation has been made against an MP. In April this year, another MP Babubhai Katara was suspended from the Parliament for his involvement in a human trafficking case. Katara, a BJP MP, was detained at the immigration terminal at Indira Gandhi International Airport after he was caught helping a woman, identified as Paramjeet Kaur, travel on his wife Shardaben Katara’s passport.

The Parliamentary Committee to Inquire into Misconduct of Members of Lok Sabha, headed by V. Kishore Chandra S. Deo, presented its report in the House today in the case of Manjhi, who represents Gaya SC constituency in Bihar. The committee found Manjhi guilty of cheating and impersonation in taking a woman friend on an official tour as his wife. It said Manjhi was guilty of travelling by air from Delhi to Mumbai along with a woman personating as his spouse on March 23, 2006 and February 21, 2007.

The committee said the MP had “blatantly misused” the entitled facilities on an official tour. "These acts tantamount to cheating and impersonating which are penal offences as well as a conduct unbecoming of a member," the committee said. It said Manjhi's actions were "conscious and deliberate" act of violation of guidelines.

It held the MP guilty of having deliberately misled the committee under oath during his evidence before it. "The committee is also of the view that Manjhi was even prevaricating and wilfully sought to suppress the truth."