Explained: SPG and its protectees

Who protects the Prime Minister?
Since 1985, the job of securing the lives of the Prime Minister and his/her immediate family has been done by the Special Protection Group (SPG), which was created in April 1985, a year after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own security guards. The SPG’s mandate is to secure the PM, former PMs and members of their immediate families. Thus, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her children Rahul and Priyanka, as well as former PM H D Deve Gowda and his children, are under SPG protection. Priyanka’s husband Robert Vadra is entitled to SPG security only when he is accompanying her.

Is Jashodaben being protected by the SPG?
No. A team of the Gujarat Police from Mehsana, where she lives, provides her cover. The SPG Act is silent on immediate family members of the PM being necessarily provided SPG security. Though Section 2 (f) of the Act says “members of the immediate family” means wife, husband, children and parents, Section 4 (1A) of the Act allows any former prime minister or any member of his/her immediate family or that of the sitting Prime Minister to decline security.

For how long after demitting office do former PMs get SPG cover?
Earlier, former PMs were entitled to SPG cover for a minimum of 10 years after they demitted office, but it was revised to just one year after an amendment in 2003 when the NDA government was in power. The Act, however, says that security cover should be withdrawn after one year only after the threat perception has been reviewed.

Who heads the SPG?
The SPG chief is an IG-rank officer. It is a post with a fixed tenure of three years. The force is directly under the Cabinet Secretariat, and the Secretary (Security) heads it.