Special Protection Group (Amendment) Act, 2019 is an act passed by

Indian parliament The Parliament of India (ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The President o ...

in 2019 which reduces

Special Protection Group The Special Protection Group (SPG) is an agency under the Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of India, whose sole responsibility is protecting the Prime Minister of India and, in some cases, their family. It was formed in 1988 by an Act of ...

cover to only Prime Minister, former Prime Minister and their immediate family members up to 5 years after ceasing post if they are residing at the residence allotted. The bill amends Special Protection Group Act 1988 which was in application.

Enactment

Bill was introduced in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

, lower house of parliament, on 25 November 2019 by minister of state for home affairs--

G. Kishan Reddy Gangapuram Kishan Reddy (born 15 June 1960) is an Indian politician who is serving as the 25th Minister of Coal & 45th Minister of Mines since 2024. He also served as Minister of Tourism, Culture and Development of North Eastern Region of ...

. It was passed in Lok Sabha on 27 November 2019. On 3 December 2019, bill was introduced to

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

by Home minister

Amit Shah Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 32nd Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Minister of Home Affairs since May 2019 and the 1st Ministry of Co-operation, Minister of Co-operat ...

and was subsequently passed on the same day. It was assented by the President on 9 December 2019 and became an act.

Reaction

Lok Sabha

While introducing the bill in Lok Sabha, Reddy said that there was no cut off period in existing act for providing SPG protection to former prime ministers and members of their immediate families.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (born 2 April 1956) is an Indian politician who served as the leader of the Indian National Congress in the 17th Lok Sabha and from 2019 to 2024 and the Member of Parliament from Berhampore from 1999 to 2024. He has ser ...

, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, called the bill and move to amend the Special Protection Group Act 1988 as 'Political Vendetta' and alleged that government was trying to target the family which lost two lives for nation. RJD leader

Manoj Jha Manoj Kumar Jha is an Indian politician who is a member of Rajya Sabha in Indian Parliament and a member of Rashtriya Janata Dal. He currently serves as the national spokesperson of the Rashtriya Janata Dal. On 15 March 2018, he was elected uno ...

and CPI leader

Binoy Viswam Binoy Viswam is an Indian politician who was a Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) from Kerala representing the Communist Party of India (CPI) and was its Parliamentary Party leader. A member of the CPI National Secretariat, he is currently th ...

also supported the claim. Amit Shah,

Home minister of India The Minister of Home Affairs is the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most officers in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the home minister is the maintenance of the internal security ...

, alleged that previous amendments in Special Protection Group Act 1988 were attempts to ensure continued protection for a family. In addition, he alleged that amendments to the act were effected in 1991, 1994, 1999 and 2003 and one more amendment was being brought to revert the original spirit of the act.

Rajya Sabha

B. K. Hariprasad, leader of

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

, demanded that bill should be withdrawn as it was 'politically motivated'.

Subramanian Swamy Subramanian Swamy (born 15 September 1939) is an Indian politician, economist and statistician. Before joining politics, he was a professor of Mathematical Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He is known for his Hindu ...

, nominated member in Rajya Sabha, said that all are equal before law and 'Gandhis' can't be given special treatment and added that the

assassination of Indira Gandhi Prime Minister of India, Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated at 9:30 AM on 31 October 1984 at her 7 RCR, residence in Safdarjung Road, New Delhi. She was killed by her bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh (assassin), Be ...

had nothing to do with lack of security.

Naresh Gujral Naresh Gujral (born 19 May 1948) is a Chartered Accountant, Shiromani Akali Dal party politician and former a member of the Parliament of India representing Punjab (India), Punjab in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. ...

Shiromani Akali Dal The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Eternal Party'') is a centre-right Sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are ma ...

politician and Rajya Sabha member, called that security has over time became a status symbol.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official Act
Special forces of India 2019 in Indian law Acts of the Parliament of India 2019