The Supreme Court today has appointed retired Justice Indu Malhotra to head the panel, to investigate the security lapse during PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Punjab on January 05.
Director-General of National Investigation Agency, Director-General of Security, Punjab and Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana High Court are other members of the panel.
The Apex 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.
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 10 and 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.
On January 7, the 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.
Despite the high security accorded to the PM, his convoy had remained stuck on a flyover on the way to Hussainiwala for about 20 minutes on account of protests during his visit to the state on January 5.
