The Supreme Court on Monday constituted a committee headed by a retired apex court judge to probe the security lapse during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent Punjab visit when he was stuck on a flyover for about 20 minutes due to a protest.
The Supreme Court has asked the centre and the Punjab government to hold the ongoing probes by panels they had appointed and said detailed orders regarding this will be issued soon.
Appearing for the Punjab government, Advocate General DS Patwalia informed the court that the prime minister’s travel details have been taken on record by the Registrar General of the High Court.
He also mentioned that seven show cause notices were issued to police officers and other authorities in the state, sans any opportunity of hearing.
Claiming that the officers will not get a fair hearing, Patwalia urged the Court to direct an independent probe.
During his arguments, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta referred to the Blue Book of the Special Protection Group (SPG), which is tasked with the security of the PM. He said, “Convoy of PM had reached the place which was 100 m from the protest area…as per the Blue Book, it would be incumbent upon the officers that the rules are strictly implemented and state government should direct such officers so that there is minimum inconvenience.”
He also pointed out that there was no intimation to the convoy that there was a crowd gathering near the flyover, which amounted to a “complete intelligence failure.” “The very fact that the State is defending them (police officers) is very very serious. The Central government Committee had to examine where did this lapse take place,” he added.
The court then questioned the need for a fact-finding inquiry by the Centre. Justice Kohli asked, “By issuing the show cause notice you show that you have decided how will you go ahead. So why should this Court go into the matter at all?”
Justice Kant said: “Your show cause notice is totally self-contradictory. By constituting the Committee, you seek to enquire if there was a breach of SPG Act and then you hold state Chief Secretary (CS) and Director General of Police (DG) guilty. Who held them guilty?”
After having a brief discussion amongst themselves, the judges decided to call for an independent probe headed by a former Supreme Court judge.
Last week, the Court called for the preservation of travel records pertaining to the recent Punjab visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during which a security lapse allegedly occurred.
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