At first glance, the incident, on December 13, of two young men jumping into the chamber of the Lok Sabha from the visitors’ gallery, shouting slogans against dictatorship and releasing canisters that emitted yellow smoke, strikes you as yet another form of democratic dissent. But, this breach of security, on the same day, in 2001, when nine personnel of Parliament — of the Delhi Police, Parliament security personnel and a gardener — lost their lives defending the same citadel of democracy from terrorists – has a much wider impact and ramifications.
It is unimaginable that there has been an incident like this in what is now a security fortress especially after the beefing up of security in Parliament House following the attack in 2001. There are spike barriers, bollards, drop gates with the latest technology, scanners, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices, anti-explosive checks, and additional manpower that form the layers of security. A phalanx of men and women from the central police forces are deployed in the outer precincts, while plainclothes men from the Parliament Duty Group, and the Delhi police manning the various stations and checkpoints in the inner environs.
So, how did the security lapse occur? The breach happened all along the various layers of security set up for the personal screening of visitors to Parliament. The door frame and handheld metal detectors check for metals in one’s possession. There is personal frisking — a body search for hidden items. But neither door frame metal detectors nor handheld metal detectors can check for plastic or rubber, especially when hidden in one’s shoes (as it was in this case). In fact, shoes are never checked in Parliament. The men who did the screening were following the usual standard operating procedure, which failed. Later, in the visitor’s gallery, the security personnel were not watchful enough, and the marshals down below in the House, only used to carrying out named Members of Parliament (MP) out of the House, failed to nab the two men hopping across the benches. It was some of the MPs present who were able to nab the intruders.
