350 complaints filed against VIP security with NHRC

George Iype in New Delhi

Taking heed of the misery caused by the obnoxious extent of VIP security to the common man, Home Minister Indrajit Gupta has asked India's intelligence agencies to study the security arrangements of the heads of governments in countries like the United States, England and Israel.

The immediate provocation for the home minister's order is the severe assault faced by Martin Massey, a 48-year-old company executive. Massey was brutally beaten with rifle butts and lathis by a dozen men from the Delhi police for straying on to Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral's route last Friday.

Massey's case is one of the more than 350 complaints of misbehaviour, torture and harassment received by the ministry and the National Human Rights Commission in the last six years against VIP security.

Ministry sources said Gupta held a high level meeting on Thursday with the chiefs of the Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing, National Security Guard, Special Protection Group and the Delhi police to review the security arrangements of VIPs in the country.

One of the suggestions that emerged from the meeting was to adopt security methods used by the US, England and Israel. These countries have been able to offer protection to their leaders without resorting to the kind of ostentatious security cover VIPs in India enjoy.

To cite an example, when the British prime minister moves out from 10, Downing Street to anywhere in London, only one security car accompanies his car. According to a top Delhi police official, the British police have successfully been able to provide "invisible security" to their leaders without disrupting traffic and harassing people.

"But in India, I do not think our leaders will allow us to offer them this kind of invisible security cover as an ostentatious security set-up has become a status symbol for many VIPs," he told Rediff On The NeT.

In Delhi, when the prime ministerial cavalcade moves, the red lights on all inter-junctions are switched off, the traffic is suddenly forced to a halt for half-an-hour, a posse of policemen with riffles are stationed on the entire stretch of the route and anyone straying on to these roads are either shot at, tortured or remanded to police custody for hours.

In 1991, Navdeep Diwan, an international business consultant, was beaten by the police when he strayed onto the prime minister's route. "I lodged complaints with the home ministry, the Delhi lieutenant governor and the Delhi police. But no action has yet been taken," Diwan told Rediff On The NeT.

On October 2, 1993, the police dragged a group of Gandhians from Mahatma Gandhi's samadhi at Rajghat. Their crime: They were holding a prayer meeting when the prime minister was about to arrive.

In November 1993, a bystander awaiting a bus at Rajaji Marg was shot by policemen. He too had unknowingly strayed on the prime minister's route. He survived the bullet injuries, but no action has yet been taken.

In December 1994, the then chief labour commissioner of India, Surendra Nath filed a petition in the Delhi high court after security personnel detained him, snatched his car key and threatened to shoot him. He was driving his daughter to school in the morning and the school's timing coincided with the prime minister's movements.

A dozen MPs were detained for nearly an hour to allow the prime minister's cavalcade to pass in November 1995. The incensed MPs brought the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to a halt and termed it as an insult to democracy.

While the home ministry is flooded with complaints like these, officials in charge of VIP security say they cannot be accused of harassing people as they are directed to strictly adhere to the Blue Book on VIP security.

The Blue Book says roads and airports have to be completely closed when a VVIP like the President, prime minister or a foreign dignitary travels. Delhi airport, for instance, is closed for 30 minutes before and after a VVIP flight takes off or lands. Air Traffic Control has estimated that the cost of such delays per minute is more than Rs 10,000.

While the SPG protects the incumbent prime minister, his family, former prime ministers and their families, the NSG provides security to Z and Z-plus VIPs deemed to be under militant threat.

The SPG, raised in 1985 in the wake of Indira Gandhi's assassination, was mainly meant to protect the prime minister and members of his family. Over the years the SPG's strength has gone up to 3,000 and the number of people under its umbrella has risen to 33. Among them are former prime ministers P V Narasimha Rao, Chandra Shekhar, A B Vajpayee and H D Deve Gowda. Some 150 SPG commandos guard each former prime minister.

The NSG commandos protect more than 600 VIPs who are under Z and Z-plus security cover. They include Farooq Abdullah, Jayalalitha Jayaram, T N Seshan, S B Chavan, Rajesh Pilot, Arjun Singh, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sajjan Kumar, H K L Bhagat, L K Advani and Matang Singh.

What is more, some 6,500 Delhi policemen and 2,600 paramilitary personnel are deployed every day at the homes and along the routes of other VIPs like members of Parliament, businessmen and bureaucrats across the capital.

"We have been giving protection to the VIPs by over-stretching our force. The home ministry has not yet cared to listen to our repeated complaints," a Delhi police officer said.

The cost of protecting the country's politicians comes at a hefty price -- Rs 561.8 million. This does not include the nearly Rs 540 million that the government spends on the SPG to protect the prime minister and former prime ministers.

'They started beating me with rifle butts and lathis in a barbaric manner'