SC directs HC to secure records of PM Punjab Visit, asks Centre, state to pause probes
Hearing a petition on the recent security breach during PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Punjab, the Supreme Court on Friday directed.
The Registrar General of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to secure and preserve all records related to the prime minister’s travel in the state.
The apex court also directed the Punjab Police, Special Protection Group (SPG) and all other concerned authorities to assist the registrar general in any way necessary. “We direct registrar general to keep all records in his safe custody,” the court’s order read, according to Bar & Bench.
The court also orally directed both the Centre and the state government to put their independent probes on hold till next Monday, Live Law reported.
It said that the Director General of UT of Chandigarh and an NIA official will assist the Registrar General latter in collecting the records RG to keep all records in his safe custody for time being.
The court was hearing a petition seeking an investigation into the security breach in Punjab on Wednesday, where the prime minister was stranded on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur highway for about 15-20 minutes.
Both the ruling Congress government in Punjab and the Ministry of Home Affairs had formed committees to launch separate probes into the incident earlier this week. While, Punjab government officials have claimed that the last-minute disruption by protesters was one factor that led to the breach, letters from the Punjab Police headquarters to field officers in districts clearly warned police officials that protesters could block roads and urged them to make adequate security arrangements for the PM’s visit to Ferozepur.
The petition referred to reports that claimed that while as per protocol, the car for the Chief Secretary and DGP or their nominees of the visiting state is earmarked and supposed to join the motorcade, neither chief secretary representative nor DG/representative joined the motorcade during the movement of the PM.