Amid recurrent incidents of violence in various courts premises in Uttar Pradersh, the Allahabad High Court on Friday ordered the State government to ensure a foolproof security in all district courts, complete with the deployment of special security force and installation of CCTV camera there. A Bench of Justices Sudhir Agarwal and Sunit Kumar gave the direction to the government with the State’s Home Secretary and Inspector General of Police (law and order) attending the hearing in response to summons to the State police chief and Additional Home Secretary.
The Bench asked the government to make security arrangements in all district courts by December 31.
It also directed government to get boundary walls built around all district court premises, besides installing CCTV cameras and deploying special police force there by January 15 next year.
After issuing directions, the Bench fixed January 2 as the next date to hear the matter further.
Bijnor court shooting
The Bench issued directions while adjudicating an incident of violence in a Bijnor courtroom that the High Court had taken suo motu cognisance of on Wednesday. One murder accused was killed and three others were injured in the December 17 attack.
“It seems there is complete failure of law and order inside court premises in the State. The most incompetent police professionals are deployed for security of court premises in the State. Is the government serious about court security? Are top officials even aware about these incidents which happened in recent past in different courts of Uttar Pradesh?” the Bench had asked on Wednesday.
The Bench had told the Additional Advocate General that strengthening court security in the State was an issue pending with it since 2008 but nothing much seems to have been done.
If the State government cannot provide adequate security in court premises, we will ask central government to deploy central forces for it, the Bench had said.
