The Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed a five-member committee headed by former apex court judge Justice Indu Malhotra to probe the security breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Punjab.
The “questions cannot be left to one-sided inquiry” and a judicially trained mind needs to oversee the probe, a bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana said while appointing the Justice Malhotra panel.
The bench also appointed the Inspector General of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Director General of Police of Chandigarh, the Registrar General of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Additional DGP of Punjab as members to the panel.
The bench, also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, said the panel will submit its report “at the earliest”.
The SC said the points of reference of the apex court-appointed panel will be to inquire as to who all are responsible for the security breach and to what extent, the remedial measures are necessary. The panel will give suggestions on security of constitutional functionaries ensuring that such incidents do not take place in future.
The 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 Prime Minister’s January 5 visit immediately to the panel head.
On January 5, Modi’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 top court’s order has come on the plea of an organisation, Lawyers Voice, seeking a thorough investigation into the breach in Modi’s security in Punjab to ensure there is no such incident in the future.
The petitioners were represented by former ASG Maninder Singh and supported by Centre stressing on the need of a probe on breach of security of the Prime Minister.
The SC had taken note of the concerns of the Punjab Government that its officials are being condemned by the Central Government panel without any proceedings and ordered, “All inquiries should stop.”
The Centre had justified the issuance of show-cause notices, saying they were based on “admitted non-compliance of statutory schemes” on the role of state police with regard to providing security to the Prime Minister.
The apex court on the very first day of arguments stopped the probe panels of Centre and Punjab Government. The State Government protested to SC about the showcase notices issued by the Centre, even after the apex court’s intervention.