The Supreme Court bench headed by CJI NV Ramana has passed the order on forming a committee to investigate the security lapse during PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Punjab on January 05. Today, The Supreme court has appointed retired Justice Indu Malhotra to head the panel.
The panel constituted by the Apex court includes Justice (retd) Indu Malhotra, Director-General of National Investigation Agency, Director-General of Security, Punjab and Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana High Court as members. The Supreme Court has instructed the panel to investigate the causes of the security breach, people responsible for it and constitute the measures that need to be taken for preventing security lapses of VVIPs in future.
On January 10, The Supreme Court on hearing the plea had decided to constitute an independent judicial committee to probe the matter. Earlier in its order, the SC had put a stay on independent investigations led by The Punjab state government and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
A three-judge bench chaired by Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana and comprised of Justice Surya Kanta and Justice Hima Kohli had heard the plea made by the “Lawyers’ Voice” organisation.
On January 7, Supreme Court had instructed the Registrar General of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to “protect and preserve” records pertaining to the prime minister’s travel to Punjab when there was a major security breach.
On January 5, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cavalcade was stalled for about 20 minutes on a flyover in Punjab owing to farmers blocking the flyover. A huge security breach occurred when private automobiles were spotted approaching the cavalcade. According to the MHA, the Punjab government failed to deploy adequate security to ensure the safety of any road traffic.