The Supreme Court on Monday said it would form a committee headed by a retired judge of the court to conduct a time-bound and independent inquiry into the circumstances that saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s convoy stuck for several minutes on a flyover in Firozpur, Punjab, on January 5, 30 km from the India-Pakistan border. The Prime Minister was on his way to address a rally which was eventually postponed.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana indicated that the ongoing inquiries by both Punjab and the Centre would have to stop for the time being. The security breach has already triggered a blame game and senior ministers of Mr. Narendra Modi’s Cabinet have turned this into a loyalty test, forestalling the possibility of a fair inquiry into the incident. The court said that its committee would submit a report within a specified time after examining the records of the security arrangements, already in the custody of the Registrar General of the Punjab and Haryana High Court as per its order on January 7. The Registrar General, along with the officers who helped him seize and protect the documents, the DGP, Chandigarh, IG, National Investigation Agency, will be part of the committee. The Additional DGP, Security Punjab will also be part of the committee as suggested by the state.
Show-cause notices have been issued by the Centre to Punjab police officers, indicating that the Centre already considered the officers prima facie guilty. A fact pointed out by the court which asked why the Centre wanted the judiciary to intervene on the matter when the government had already presumed everything.
With Punjab going to polls on February 14, and the distrust between the Centre and the state now in public domain, the issue is unlikely to die down
