PM Modi security breach: Supreme Court says Punjab Police failed

The Supreme Court-appointed committee that examined the security breach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January this year has found that there was a failure on the part of Punjab Police. 

Reading out from the report by retired Supreme Court judge Indu Malhotra, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said Ferozepur SSP failed to discharge his duty to maintain law and order. He failed to do this even though sufficient force was available and that information was passed on two hours earlier that Prime Minister Modi would travel through that route. 

The five-member committee said the Ferozepur Senior Superintendent of Police failed to discharge his duty to maintain law and order. The Supreme Court further said that some remedial measures had been suggested to strengthen the Prime Minister's security.

The verdict by the bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana came on a plea by an organisation named Lawyers Voice that had sought a court-monitored probe into the alleged security breach during PM Modi's Punjab visit on January 5.

The top court had set up an independent committee, to be headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Indu Malhotra to probe the security breach in Ferozepur, Punjab.

The verdict comes a day after Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann while welcoming Prime Minister Modi to Mohali, described the incident as 'unfortunate'. To note, the security breach of the Prime Minister happened during the tenure of the Congress government in the state.

The Prime Minister's cavalcade was stranded over a flyover for about 20 minutes -- about 30 km from Hussainiwala, where he was scheduled to attend an event -- after a blockade by some protesters. PM Modi returned without attending the event.

The issue triggered a war of words, with both the central government and the BJP blaming the Congress-led state government for the security lapse. The latter, however, maintained that the Prime Minister had altered his route at the last minute.

Retired Justice Indu Malhotra probed the role of Punjab Police officers and examined whether there was any criminal conspiracy in the incident.

The Apex Court had sought a comprehensive report and directed the Registrar General of the Punjab and the Haryana High Court to provide the committee with all the seized documents pertaining to the Prime Minister's security arrangements.