The Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed a five-member committee headed by former apex court judge Indu Malhotra to probe the security breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Punjab.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana also appointed the Inspector General of the National Investigation Agency, Director General of Police of Chandigarh, the Registrar General of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Additional DGP (Security) of Punjab as members to the Justice Malhotra panel.
The Court opined that the “questions cannot be left to one-sided enquiry” and a judicially trained mind needs to oversee the probe.
The top court directed the Registrar General of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to provide all the seized documents pertaining to the security arrangements made by the Punjab government for the PM’s January 5 visit immediately to the panel head. The bench also comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli said that it was expected that the panel would file its report shortly.
The points of reference of the Committee will be- who all are responsible for the security breach and to what extent, remedial measures of safeguard necessary & any suggestions on securities of Constitutional functionaries.
“…these questions can’t be left to one-sided inquiries. A judicially trained independent
mind duly assisted with officers well acquired with security issues & Registrar general of
HC who seized records would be best placed, to submit a comprehensive report”, CJI NV
Ramana read out the operative portion of the order.
On January 5, the prime minister’s convoy was stranded on a flyover due to a blockade by protesters in Ferozepur after which he returned from Punjab without attending any event, including a rally.
The Central government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) blamed the Congress government in Punjab for the security lapse. The state government, however, maintained that the PM had altered his route at the last minute.
The plea filed by an organisation called Lawyers Voice sought suspension of Punjab Chief Secretary Anirudh Tewari and Director General of Police Sidharth Chattopadhyaya.
It further prayed that the apex court should take cognizance of the incident and direct the Bathinda District Judge to collect all official documents and materials regarding the deployment and movements of the Punjab Police during the PM’s visit.
During the last hearing of the plea on January 10, the Court had already made it clear that it will appoint a judicial committee to conduct a probe.
However, the composition of the committee was not decided then.
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