Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee on Tuesday got into an argument and smashed a glass bottle at a meeting of the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) examining the contentious waqf amendment bill, leading to his suspension from the panel for a day.

Chairperson of the committee and senior BJP MP Jagdambika Pal accused Banerjee of violent behaviour and termed his actions unprecedented.

“In my 40 years of parliamentary career, I cannot even imagine this kind of incident taking place…. Not only did he (Banerjee) break the bottle but the way he threw it at me… By God’s grace, I had a narrow escape… the bottle did not hit me…,” Pal told reporters, accusing the Trinamool MP of “apradhik”(criminal) behaviour.

“By this standard, an MP can even come to the meeting with a revolver,” he said while alleging that Banerjee had also used abusive language.

Banerjee, who suffered cuts on the thumb and the little finger of his right hand, was seen coming out of the meeting with bandages on his hand.

Sources close to Banerjee claimed he had not “intentionally” lobbed the broken bottle towards Pal. “The broken bottle rolled on the table towards the chairperson,” a source said.

Pal said a resolution to expel the Trinamool member from the committee following his violent outburst was moved by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey. “The committee, however, took a sympathetic view and suspended Banerjee for a day from participating in the proceedings of the meeting,” Pal said, adding that he had apprised Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla about the incident. Ten members voted in favour of the suspension resolution and 8 against it.

Banerjee refused to comment on the incident, saying that rules prohibited him from disclosing the proceedings of the meeting. “Nothing can be said about what happened at the JPC meeting,” he told reporters when asked about his suspension and injury.

Sources present at the meeting said Banerjee got involved in an ugly spat with BJP MP and former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Ganguly.

The fracas started when members of an NGO from Cuttack were making a presentation before the committee. During the presentation, BJP MP Brij Lal asked some questions that were objected to by an Opposition member on the panel.

The Trinamool MP intervened at this point, prompting Ganguly to raise his objection on the ground that Banerjee had already spoken and was now “disturbing the BJP member”.

“The moment the former judge objected, Banerjee snapped at him and started hurling abuses,” a member of the panel claimed. Ganguly, too, was accused of using “unparliamentary language” against Banerjee.

As the two rival party MPs argued, Pal walked up to Banerjee’s chair to calm him down, sources said. However, the argument continued and Banerjee in a “fit of rage smashed a glass bottle on the table and lobbed it at the chairperson, accusing him of being biased”, sources said.

Banerjee injured his hand and had to be given first aid. AAP MP Sanjay Singh and AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi were seen escorting Banerjee out after the meetingwas adjourned.

The ongoing JPC meeting on the waqf amendment bill has been witnessing stormy scenes marked by heated arguments. Last week, Opposition members had walked out of the meeting on two occasions and shot off a letter to Birla, accusing Pal of beingbiased and alleging “gross violation of the parliamentary code of conduct duringthe meeting”.

The waqf amendment bill tabled by the government in the Lok Sabha in August was sent to the JPC for further scrutiny after protests by the Opposition benches.

The bill seeks to bring sweeping changes in the Waqf Act of 1995 that regulates waqf properties in India.