PM's security breach in Punjab: Lawyers receive call against SC taking up the case
Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 Jan, 2022 01:55 PM
New Delhi, Jan 10 (IANS) Several Supreme Court advocates on Monday claimed to have received an international call with a recorded message asking the apex court not to help the Central government by taking up a case connected with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security breach in Punjab last week.
Speaking to IANS, Shivaji M. Jadhav, president Supreme Court advocates-on-record Association, said one of the executive members of the association has received the call. People familiar with the development said the recorded message also claimed responsibility for blocking the PM's passage last week.
According to sources, several advocate-on-record (AoRs) received calls from an unknown international number in the morning with a recorded message that Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) has taken responsibility of PM' security breach in Punjab. The recorded message added that the top court did not do enough with regard to killings of Sikh community members during the 1984 riots.
Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, in a tweet, said: "The audio sent by the "Sikhs for Justice USA" to AORs in the SC must be treated with circumspection. The audio could be a hoax motivated by publicity or to blur the trail to the guilty. But since it contains a veiled threat to SC judges/AORs the NIA must investigate it forthwith."
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to set up a committee headed by a former top judge to probe the PM's security breach in Punjab.
Senior advocate Maninder Singh, representing the Delhi-based petitioner Lawyer's Voice, had mentioned the plea before the Supreme Court. He emphasised on the importance of protection to the PM of the country and cited previous top court ruling that looked at the SPG Act.
The plea sought an independent probe into the PM's security breach in Punjab. It sought a direction to the District Judge Bathinda to collect, preserve and present all material pertaining to the movement and deployment of Punjab Police in connection with the visit of the Prime Minister, and fix responsibility of the DGP and the Chief Secretary, Punjab.
On January 6, the Ministry of Home Affairs constituted a three-member committee to enquire into the "serious lapses in the security arrangements" during the PM's visit to Ferozepur, in poll-bound Punjab. The MHA said: "The committee will be led by Sudhir Kumar Saxena, Secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat, and comprising Balbir Singh, Joint Director, IB, and S.Suresh, IG, SPG."
With 192 new cases of highly transmissible Covid variant Omicron detected in the last 24 hours, India's Omicron tally on Tuesday rose to 1,892 cases. Maharashtra and Delhi continue to be the worst-hit states with this new variant.
Badal in a statement here listed five major issues on which he said a prime ministerial package would lend credence and respectability to Modi's visit to Punjab on January 5. The former CM also drew the PM's attention to thousands of Sikh families awaiting justice for the massacre of 1984.
Addressing a gathering of Anganwadi workers in Morinda town, the Chief Minister declared that from now onwards the monthly emoluments of the Anganwadi workers stand increased from Rs 8,100 to Rs 9,500, mini-Anganwadi workers from Rs 5,300 to Rs 6,300 and helpers from Rs 4,050 to Rs 5,100.
Amid a surge in Coronavirus cases, the Delhi government on Tuesday decided to impose a weekend curfew from January 8. During weekdays, the metros and buses will run at full seating capacity with strict adherence to Covid-19 guidelines.
The centuries-old Ravidas temple in Tughlakabad was demolished by the DDA on August 10 in 2019 following a Supreme Court order. Since then, a series of protests have been organised by Dalit organisations.
Veteran social worker Sindhutai Sapkal - known as the 'Mother to thousands of orphans' - passed away following a cardiac arrest, a family friend said. She was 73, and breathed her last at Galaxy Hospital where she was under treatment for almost a month.
