NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Bar Association on Wednesday wrote to former top court judge Indu Malhotra, heading a panel tasked with probing the security breach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Punjab, seeking an enquiry into anonymous threat calls reportedly made to advocates in connection with the case.
Several Supreme Court lawyers had on Monday written to the apex court alleging they have received calls threatening judges over the case involving a security breach that left Prime Minister Modi stuck for 20 minutes on a flyover in Punjab last week.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) said in a letter to Justice Malhotra that the issue is very serious as it relates to the safety and security of lawyers and also impinges upon the independence of the justice delivery system.
"In this view, I would request you to kindly enquire into the said incident also, the same being an incidental issue, while examining the issue of security breach," SCBA president Vikas Singh wrote in the letter.
On Monday, the Supreme Court Advocate-On-Record Association (SCAORA), claimed the threat calls were made allegedly by pro-Khalistan organisation Sikhs for Justice.
The caller had warned that Supreme Court judges should refrain from hearing the PIL filed by an NGO, Lawyers' Voice, seeking probe into the security breach on the ground that the apex court has not been able to punish the culprits of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, stated the SCAORA letter to Virender Kumar Bansal, Secretary General, Supreme Court.
The SCAORA requested immediate action and termed the calls "violation of the privacy of the advocates on records" as their registered mobile numbers were out in the public domain.
On January 5, Modi's convoy was stranded on a flyover due to a blockade by protesters in Ferozepur after which he returned from Punjab without attending any event, including a rally.