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."
After the meeting of Rahul Gandhi with Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and T.S. Singh Deo, it is widely expected that the state could see a minor portfolio reshuffle. Singh Deo may be given more importance in the cabinet and it's likely he may be allotted a portfolio soon. Currently he holds the health portfolio.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said he will invite Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, Punjab Governor V.P. Badnore and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as guests at the special session.
Chidambaram was addressing a press conference at the fag-end of his two-day visit to the state in the capacity as the All India Congress Committee's senior observer in charge of Goa ahead of the 2022 state assembly polls.
Punjab annually generates 20 million tonnes of paddy straw and this is normally set on fire to quickly clear the fields for the next crop, resulting in choking of the National Capital Region (NCR) in October and November.
Priyanka's remarks came after farmers on Tuesday evening vacated the railway tracks and highways in Punjab after the Amarinder Singh government accepted the demands of the sugarcane farmers.
The 'rebel' legislators reached Dehradun in the morning to apprise Rawat about the mood of the public against the Amarinder Singh-led government in the state. They, among 20-odd party legislators, have been demanding replacement of Amarinder Singh as he failed to fulfill the 2017 poll promises.
