Four arrested for attacking three judges in road rage case

Charged under attempt to murder, damage to public property

Four persons were arrested for attacking three judges of Saket district court in a road rage incident at Ambedkar Nagar in south east Delhi, police said on Friday.

Anil Raj, a salesman at DLF Promenade mall in Vasant Kunj, his brother Sunil, who is unemployed, Rohit, who is involved in a family automobile business, and Prashant, a hairdresser, were arrested on attempt to murder charges.

“While Anil Raj and Rohit were arrested on Thursday, Sunil and Prashant were arrested on Friday. They have been charged with attempt to murder and damage to public property on the basis of a statement by driver Chaman Lal,” said Dharmendra Kumar, Special Commissioner of Police (law and order).

Kumar said they will apply stronger charges in road rage cases.He asked people to note down numbers of vehicles involved in such cases and give them to police for investigation.

The four men were held for attacking Metropolitan Magistrate Ajay Garg, Additional Sessions Judges Inderjit Singh and M K Nagpal, and their driver Chamal Lal at Dakshinpuri J Block at 5.45 pm on Thursday.

Ajay Garg suffered head injuries, while Inderjit Singh and M K Nagpal escaped unhurt.

Lal was also injured.

The judges were going to Ambedkar Nagar when their vehicle scraped against one of the “speeding” motorcycles driven by the youths near the  Bus Rapid Transit terminal.

In his complaint, Lal said he was driving a government vehicle that was used as a car pool to ferry judges. When they reached Dakshinpuri, a speeding motorcycle hit their vehicle.

When Lal came out of the car, he saw that the youths had got off their motorcycles. He counselled them not to speed but they started misbehaving with him.

“Seeing this, the judges came out and they also conselled them. The situation was brought under control and the judges were getting into the car and leaving Anil Raj saw the court sticker,” the driver said in his complaint.

According to him, Anil Raj, who was previously involved in two cases, then said the same judge had sent him to jail in the past and should not be left alive. Then he called his friends, said Lal.

“After they came, Raj threw a brick at Garg, breaking the car’s windows. His friends also joined him in hurling bricks at us, during which Garg was hit on his head,” Lal said.

The other two judges managed to duck behind the seat.

The attackers fled when a large number of people started gathering at the spot, and left a motorcycle in the melee.

Delhi lawyers observe strike

Protesting the attack on three judges by bike-borne men, lawyers in all the six district courts of Delhi on Friday observed a one-day strike, paralysing legal work, a lawyers’ body said IANS. “We condemn the attack on three judicial officers of Saket court complex,” said Kuldeep Sehrawat, chairman of the district courts bar association coordination committee. What will be the condition of common masses, he asked, when city judges are not safe, he asked.

Madan Lal, president, saket court bar association, said government must provide proper security to judicial officers. He said one of the arrested person involved in this case was also named in four other cases. The strike paralysed the work at all six city courts – Saket, Patiala House, Tis Hazari, Karkardooma, Rohini and Dwarka.

Metropolitan magistrate Ajay Garg, additional sessions judge M K Nagpal and additional district Judge Inderjeet Singh were attacked by four young men on two motorbikes Thursday. Metropolitan magistrate Ajay Garg and driver Chaman Lal were hospitalised with head injuries after the bikers rained bricks on their windscreen soon after the judge’s car grazed one of the motorcycles, toppling two men.