The Supreme Court rejected a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which demanded withdrawing the Z+ security which guards Mukesh Ambani and his family. The Supreme Court stated that it depends on the state to review and assess the threat perception of a person and can take a decision on such issues. A bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan rejected the PIL filed by Himanshu Agarwal against Bombay High Court’s order passed in December 2019.
The Supreme Court stated in the order, “It is for the state to assess and review the threat perception of individuals on a case to case basis.
The Bombay High Court stated the State was obligated to provide Z+ security for individuals who can afford the cost of the security for protecting their lives considering their own threat perception. The Bombay High Court had marked that Ambani family were responsible and agreeable to pay the complete charges for protecting their lives in milieu of their threat perception.
The Mumbai Police Commissioner had no choice but to assure highest level Z+ security be catered to the private people, adding, “irrespective of whether any individual or any authority is convinced about the existence or otherwise of real threat to their life or liberty, particularly when they are willing to bear their entire cost for said security to protect their lives in view of their own grave threat perceptions.”
