Chandigarh, Aug. 30 -- Former Haryana Vidhan Sabha speaker Kuldeep Sharma on Saturday urged incumbent speaker Harvinder Kalyan to take suo motu cognisance of the alleged manhandling and wrongful restraint of Congress MLAs by Chandigarh Police outside the assembly premises.

In a statement, Sharma said that while the smooth functioning of the assembly was the Speaker's responsibility, the rights and privileges of MLAs outside the House also warranted protection.

Referring to an incident witnessed outside the assembly premises a day earlier, Sharma termed the alleged treatment meted out to leader of opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was "heckled and tackled" by cops, as a shameful chapter in the history of the Haryana assembly. "Congre...