When security boundaries blur: The Kangana Ranaut incident and its revelation

On June 6, 2024, Kangana Ranaut, the newly elected Member of Parliament from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi constituency and celebrated actress, was on her way to the capital via Chandigarh airport. During her transit, she was slapped by Kulwinder Kaur, a CISF police officer stationed at the airport.

According to the FIR, which was accessed and published by News18Ranaut was accompanied by four personnel, including a CISF inspector, two policewomen and Vistara airline staff. The FIR states, “It is alleged that Miss Kangana Ranaut (film actress and newly elected MP from Mandi Himachal Pradesh) travelled from Chandigarh to Delhi on June 6 by Vistara flight no. UK-707 (STD-3.45pm). At around 3.26pm, she completed PESC (Pre-Boarding Security Check) formalities with the due assistance of a CISF-SHA Inspector (Surendra Kumar Sharma, Inspector/Head), a CISF officer (Constable Suneet Kumar), a Local Police Officer (Lady Constable Veerpal Kaur) and the airline staff.”

The FIR is based on the complaint of Surendra Kumar Sharma, inspector of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), who accompanied Kangana Ranaut.

“After completing PESC (pre-boarding security check), she went to the boarding gate at around 3.28 pm and in the meantime, CISF Constable Kulwinder Kaur, who was also posted at Domestic SHA (adjacent ladies’ control booth), came out of her control booth and hit Miss Kangana Ranaut. Immediately, Constable Kulwinder Kaur was pushed towards the control booth by Constable Veerpal Kaur. Later, Kangana Ranaut left the PESC point and headed for her scheduled flight. In this connection, it is requested to file an FIR against CISF Constable/GO’ Kulwinder Kaur for her misbehaviour with Miss Kangana Ranaut,” Surendra Kumar Sharma said in his complaint based on which the FIR was filed.

Accordingly News18Police reviewed the CCTV footage of the incident and stated that Ranaut was stopped by Kaur, who slapped her and misbehaved with her.

As a national security, aviation and avionics analyst, I will analyse below the negative impacts that could in all practical terms have enormous consequences for the internal security of our country, especially when it comes to safeguarding the irreplaceable lives of both VVIPs and common people.

First, it must be recalled that the CISF constable’s proactive confession to her complaint against Kangana Ranaut was captured on video, when she made her stand publically known loudly and clearly, presumably immediately after she committed the unlawful act. The physical attack on Ranaut obviously needs to be and will be thoroughly investigated. However, if it turns out to be a planned attack by the CISF personnel, then I fear the implications will go far beyond mere dangerousness. This would pave the way for lone-wolf attacks and would be an indication of Khalistani influence over our forces in Punjab and elsewhere as well.

While the candid confession of the CISF officer on duty clearly confirms my analysis, neutrality, thoroughness and breadth of investigation by all intelligence and law enforcement agencies is extremely important and in my opinion a necessity. It is unacceptable for a serving officer, entrusted with the protection of citizens and the nation, to demean a public representative and potentially endanger a VVIP. Such behaviour is a breach of trust and also serves as a signpost for extremists as it demonstrates methods of putting VVIPs in danger.

In this context, we must remember the assassination attempt on Rajiv Gandhi on July 30, 1987 at the Sri Lankan President’s house in Colombo, as well as the assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. We must also remember the incident on January 5, 2022, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s convoy was stopped on a flyover in Punjab due to a road blockade by protesting farmers and the Special Protection Group had no means to escort the Prime Minister to safety. We should also remember the relentless and brazen threats against the Republic of India and its Prime Minister by the US-based Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who was receiving joint protection and sanctuary from Canada and the US.

This incident is particularly concerning as it occurred just three days before the T20 World Cup match between India and Pakistan at the Nassau County Stadium in New York. The match itself is already considered a high-risk event due to ISIS-K (Islamic State – Khorasan Province) making threats against players and spectators. According to ABC7NYNassau County Police Chief Patrick Ryder said he has been meeting with other agencies for nearly seven months. “The threats we have received date back to April when it was a global and international threat from what they called ISIS-K. Then it became more specific to the actual India-Pakistan game, without specifying the location. Then yesterday you all saw the video that went around the world, and they are calling on this lone perpetrator to commit his acts,” Ryder said.

The threatening message from ISIS-K is outrageous: “Wait for the matches. And we will wait for you.”

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, while ISIS-K has not yet launched attacks on U.S. territory, the group poses a continuing threat to U.S. and allied interests in South and Central Asia. This background report provides an overview of ISIS-K’s history, leadership, and current strategic objectives.

Origin and relationship to the ISIS core

In 2014, Pakistani national Hafiz Saeed Khan was appointed the first emir of IS-K province. Khan, a veteran commander of the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), brought with him other prominent TTP members – including the group’s spokesman, Sheikh Maqbool, and many district chiefs – when he pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in October 2014. Many of these individuals were inducted into the first Khorasan Shura, or leadership council.

Among the first members of IS-K were a contingent of Pakistani militants who emerged around 2010 in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, just across the border from Pakistan’s former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). In such circumstances, the unprecedented breach by a CISF officer would only embolden sinister minds to an unimaginable extent and enable them to work more closely than ever before to carry out their nefarious plans to fatally harm India’s state officials at the top and the Indian public at large. But that is not the end. In fact, the scale of the danger is rightly much greater, and we must now prepare for it across India.

This display of perceived personal vendetta by a security personnel on duty would create an inevitable sense of distrust between the elite Special Protection Group, the last line of defence for VVIPs, and other security organisations responsible for their safety, even in supposedly safe places like airports. Hence, the negative impact on the streets is easy to imagine. This distrust is bound to deepen further, especially since a terrorist has garnered thousands of votes in Punjab in a brazen display of support for extremism, regardless of whether one denies it or downplays it. It is also primarily an indication that our eternal pride in the Sikh community is being challenged and played with simultaneously by an unprecedented coalition of some Western nations and Pakistan. The idea of ​​Khalistan has no resonance with our patriotic Sikh brothers, and it is meaningless to the bravest and most honourable Sikhs who constitute the overwhelming majority both in India and globally. Kulwinder Kaur has chosen to hurt the pride and principles of the Sikh majority.

Moreover, it is of utmost importance to note that the CISF personnel are equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry and such a mindset of personal revenge might have been moments away from opening deadly fire on a citizen and representative.

To ascertain whether the attack was planned requires an investigation of enormous proportions, especially considering that the attack was carried out only after Kangana Ranaut was elected as a Member of Parliament – which in itself brings with it significant powers that she could use for the good of the nation in fighting terrorism if she is given a portfolio in the central government. The shadow of a planned conspiracy is rightly looming, for under normal circumstances the CISF officer concerned would have raised her personal complaint before the Indian judiciary, ideally long ago, given the timing of the release of Ranaut’s statement on the farmers’ protest.

A security officer is obliged to protect even a criminal during court proceedings and during execution of a sentence. This duty applies even when the criminal is accused of harming the security officer’s own family members. It is astonishing that this unforgivable act of betrayal of the nation and the uniform comes at a time when the Pakistan Army/ISI, our eternal enemy on the Western Front, is deliberately drugging the youth of Punjab.

Kulwinder Kaur, a mother of two children, has not only voluntarily created an indelible stain on one of the most respected security organizations in the country, but has also created an unmistakable level of mistrust between the various security apparatuses. Make no mistake, her children will bear the unbearable burden of her betrayal of the nation and her uniform. The Indian security apparatus must act as one to address this situation and neutralize the mistrust effectively and promptly.

This attack is also aimed at creating a sense of distrust in the army and other security forces for selecting Sikhs. Pakistan’s involvement is certain, and so is China’s, as they fear Sikhs the most. Overall, it is a well-coordinated mission by India’s external and internal enemies, including the US and its lackey Canada, primarily in return for Pakistan supplying NATO arms and ammunition to Ukraine, and also to settle scores with an unimpressed India on the Nijjar and Pannun issues. Pakistan’s silence in congratulating Narendra Modi on his third term in power is a sure sign of fear of losing PoK.

I call upon the National Security Advisor, the three Armed Forces Chiefs and all domestic and foreign intelligence agencies of our country and all chiefs of Indian law enforcement agencies to prepare for war.

Arya Ghosh is a national security, aviation and avionics analyst. The views expressed in the above article are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of News18.