E-Paper
High court orders removal of Punjab cop from judge’s security
Punjab and Haryana High Court removed a judge's PSO after a man snatched his gun and shot himself at the Golden Temple; security personnel will be changed.
The Punjab and Haryana high court has ordered the removal of the personal security officer (PSO) of a high court judge, from whom a man snatched the service pistol at the Golden Temple on September 24, and shot himself dead. The PSO, an ASI, was accompanying the high court judge to the shrine.
“The personnel manning security of the learned judge within and outside Chandigarh shall immediately be changed from Punjab police to police personnel belonging to either UT administration or the state of Haryana,” the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Anil Kshetarpal observed adding that it is well known that large-scale lapses on the part of investigating agencies in Punjab were exposed by various judicial orders passed by the judge since last 12/24 months. This court, thus, deems it appropriate that the security personnel dealing with the security of the judge ought not to be members of the Punjab police force, but either of UT administration or Haryana, it asserted. The incident was reported on September 24 when according to reports, the ASI was accompanying the judge who had come to pay obeisance at the shrine. Suddenly, the man snatched the pistol of the officer and shot himself dead.
Meanwhile, the Punjab police said that the deceased has been identified as Hariprasad by his mother Lakshmi Anandhan, a resident of Mahalingapura, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. The police have also told the court that a special investigating team (SIT) headed by DCP/Investigation has been constituted and the same is being supervised by Punjab ADGP (modernization), B Chandra Sekhar. The court has also impleaded centre and Haryana as party to the suo motu proceedings, which were initiated after the September 24 incident had come to light.
