The Punjab and Haryana high court has said it does not appear that the security cover of Rajya Sabha MP and former cricketer Harbhajan Singh was withdrawn after he left the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Seven MPs, constituting two-thirds of the AAP’s total strength of 10 in the Upper House, had switched to the BJP on April 24. These included Harbhajan Singh, Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Kumar Mittal, Rajinder Gupta, Vikramjit Singh Sahney (all from Punjab) and Swati Maliwal (from Delhi).
The next day, the former cricketer’s security was withdrawn by the Punjab Police, an action challenged by him in the high court on April 30.
“..it cannot be said the petitioner’s security cover has been withdrawn abruptly due to his leaving the party. The decision to withdraw had been taken by the Review Committee much earlier, which is not denied,” the bench of justice Tribhuvan Dahiya observed.
Court declines to issue further directions, disposes of plea
The bench also noted that the protests outside his residence or him being branded a “traitor” did not establish threat to his life and liberty.
{{/usCountry}}The bench also noted that the protests outside his residence or him being branded a “traitor” did not establish threat to his life and liberty.
{{/usCountry}}“The protest was not violent either. Besides, the petitioner has already been provided ‘Y+’ category security through CRPF by the ministry of home affairs and, in addition, the state government has undertaken to take care of his security through local area deployment whenever he is in the state,” the court observed while disposing of his plea and declining to issue further directions with regard to his security cover.
Singh had alleged that on April 25, his security cover was withdrawn in Delhi and Punjab by the state government in “a very arbitrary and vindictive manner” without any fresh threat assessment and issuing any notice or opportunity of hearing to him.
A day after he switched to the BJP, all police personnel deployed at his Jalandhar residence left, and the deputy commissioner gave permission to AAP workers to hold a protest at his residence, which resulted in a mob painting the outer walls of his house by writing “traitor”, he had alleged, further claiming that the mob also tried to break the front gate.
The court took note of the Punjab Police affidavit stating that a security assessment was conducted by the security review committee (SRC) of the threat perception of all protectees of the Jalandhar area on March 3.
“… members of SRC had participated and no specific threat was reported by any of the participating wings regarding the petitioner. Further, the engagements of the petitioner outside Jalandhar, within the state of Punjab, were found to be very limited and pertinently, he predominantly stays outside the state of Punjab,” the police affidavit said, adding that the commissioner of Jalandhar was directed to take care of the security of the petitioner through local deployment, whenever he was in the state.