The Supreme Court on Friday asked for preservation of all travel records while hearing a case on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security lapse that occurred a couple of days ago in Punjab’s Ferozepur, media reports said.
The top court has asked Punjab and Haryana High Court’s Registrar General “to keep all records in his safe custody”.
It has also directed the Punjab Police, the Special Protection Group (SPG) and other central and state agencies to cooperate with the Registrar General.
Supporting a petition filed by National Investigation Agency (NIA) calling for a probe into the incident, the Centre told the apex court that the Prime Minister’s security lapse is a “rarest of rare” case.
“Both the Punjab government and the police were responsible for the security lapse… There’s also possibility of cross border terrorism. This is something which ought to have been avoided, it’s a case of potential international embarrassment,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court as quoted by NDTV.
MHA Forms Three-Member Committee To Probe
The Union Home Ministry on Thursday formed a three-member committee to probe into the “serious lapses in the security arrangements” that occurred during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Punjab’s Ferozepur a day ago.
The committee will be led by Sudhir Kumar Saxena, Secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat.
The ministry posted a couple of tweets that read, “Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) has constituted a committee to enquire into the serious lapses in the security arrangements during Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s visit to Ferozepur, Punjab on 05.01.2022,which led to the exposure of the VVIP to grave security risk.”
“The three-member committee will be led by Shri Sudhir Kumar Saxena, Secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat and comprising (composed) of Shri Balbir Singh, Joint Director, IB and Shri S. Suresh, IG, SPG.
“The committee is advised to submit the report at the earliest.”
What Was The Incident?
The Prime Minister was going to Bhatinda to visit the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter.
Due to rain and poor visibility, the Prime Minister waited for 15-20 minutes for the weather to clear out.
Since the bad weather condition continued, it was decided the Prime minister would visit the National Martyrs Memorial via road.
When the Prime Minister’s cavalcade reached the flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protestors owing to which he was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes.
Political Blame Game
The incident has sparked a blame game between the country’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress, which governs Punjab.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday lashed out at the Congress tweeted, “Today’s Congress-made happening in Punjab is a trailer of how this party thinks and functions. Repeated rejections by the people have taken them to the path of insanity. The topmost echelons of the Congress owe an apology to the people of India for what they have done.”
Calling the whole incident as a political drama, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted, “Clear Reply to those enacting “Political Drama” of “Security Breach” in PM’s security
“Is it the job of Congress Govt to fetch people for PM’s rally? BJP should own up loss of face among famers & people of Punjab instead of enacting Political Drama.”
