8 hours Ago
NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Friday rejected the Punjab govt's plea seeking statement of witnesses that formed a part of the report of Justice Indu Malhotra , who inquired into the security lapses during PM Narendra Modi 's visit to the state on Jan 5, 2022, to enable it to proceed against delinquent officers. The Justice Malhotra committee in its report, submitted in the middle of 2022, had indicted the then Ferozepur senior superintendent of police, Harmanbir Singh Hans, for lapses in security arrangements for the PM, whose convoy while travelling from Bathinda airport to Ferozepur had to take a U-turn after getting stuck for nearly 20 minutes on a flyover due to a sudden protest. Congress's Charanjit Singh Channi was CM then.
After nearly two years, the Punjab govt initiated proceedings against two other senior police officers Siddharth Chattopadhyaya and Inderbir Singh. Govt said the witness statements, based on which the Justice Malhotra committee gave its report, would be helpful in conducting disciplinary proceedings against the alleged delinquent officers. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan bench said the report has been sent to both the state and Centre, and SC on Aug 25, 2022, asked them to take appropriate action.
Giving the witness statements to the govt for conducting the disciplinary proceedings would serve no purpose, it said and asked the state to conduct proceedings without the aid of the witness statements contained in Justice Malhotra's report. tnn.
