Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court disposed of a petition filed by Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament and veteran cricketer Harbhajan Singh, which challenged the withdrawal of his state police security cover. A bench comprising Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya declined to direct the full restoration of the previous deployment, noting that the parliamentarian has already been granted a highly specialized central Y-category security cover by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The high court observed that the existing central protection, managed through the Central Reserve Police Force, is entirely sufficient to mitigate potential security risks. Concurrently, the bench recorded an official undertaking from the Punjab government, which mandated that the state police will deploy adequate security personnel to protect Harbhajan Singh whenever he travels or resides within the state.
The judicial resolution comes after the Punjab government filed a comprehensive affidavit defending its administrative decision against allegations of political vindictiveness. The state counsel clarified that the security scaling followed a structured threat assessment conducted by the Security Review Committee well before the leader’s shift in political affiliation, concluding that no specific intelligence inputs indicated an active threat. Furthermore, the state administration argued that the previous security detail had become redundant given the superior central cover and highlighted that the MP predominantly spends his time outside Punjab. The government assured the court that the Commissioner of Police in Jalandhar has been explicitly instructed to execute local area security deployments during the lawmaker’s regional visits to completely insulate him from any harm.
Harbhajan Singh had approached the high court seeking a mandamus to quash the state security wing’s withdrawal order, branding the sudden removal of his 25-member police detail as arbitrary and illegal. The petitioner contended that his protection was abruptly stripped away in a retaliatory move immediately after he left the ruling Aam Aadmi Party to join the Bharatiya Janata Party. His plea also cited immediate safety hazards, pointing to local demonstrations and the pasting of hostile posters outside his Jalandhar residence that labeled him a traitor. While the high court acknowledged these incidents, it determined that peaceful political demonstrations do not automatically establish a critical life threat, concluding that the combined security framework of central forces and localized Punjab Police support will comprehensively safeguard the MP.
