If VIPs are in danger, let them stay at home: Court

The Delhi high court, observing that heavily-guarded politicians were in no way a “national asset”, said on Thursday that if these people were in so much danger that they could not move around in public places without being accompanied by 10 to 15 guards each, then it was better if they stayed at home.

The court noted that not only were ordinary citizens hugely inconvenienced by the presence of these security guards, most of them carrying automatic weapons, their presence also posed a direct threat to members of the public.

“You should not let these men (politicians) come out. Their presence in public places itself threatens (ordinary citizens). I do not know why it has become a matter of prestige for them to move with 10-15 uniformed security personnel carrying lethal weapons,” a bench comprising Justices T.S. Thakur and Veena Birbal told the counsel for the Union government.

“If these people feel so threatened, then they should not come out in public places,” the judges said. “It has become fashionable and a status symbol. The more people (securitymen) who surround these people (politicians), the more prestigious they feel. It is obnoxious that (ordinary people) are forced to stay on the sidelines and are prevented from walking on the pavements when politicians pass through.”

New Delhi, Friday, PTI