JOIN USRohini Court shootout: Plea in Delhi HC to take steps to ensure safety, security of Delhi district courts
A plea has been moved in the Delhi High Court urging it to direct authorities to take requisite measures for the safety and security of district courts here, a day after a shootout inside the Rohini courtroom left three gangsters dead and a law intern injured.
The petition filed by a woman advocate said she has been practicing in various Delhi courts for years, but it has become unsafe for her and thousands of fellow lawyers to visit there as they have become “easy terrain” for gangsters to settles scores.
“It is also painful that a young legal professional has also got severely injured in the scary incident. This shootout inside the court again puts a big question mark on the safety and security of judges, lawyers and litigants inside the district courts in Delhi,” petitioner advocate Deepa Joseph said.
The plea sought direction to the Delhi Police and the Bar Council of Delhi to consider instructing all police personnel at court entrances to ensure that they check the ID cards of every lawyer who enters the court premises.
It also sought to direct the Delhi Police to raise security and frisking level of lawyers at par with the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court, and to take disciplinary action against the officers who fail to implement the direction with utmost diligence and seriousness.
The plea, moved through lawyers Robin Raju and Blessan Mathews, said the BCD be asked to issue an advisory to all the District Bar Associations in the city to recommend members of their bar to cooperate with police personnel at the main entrance of courts.
On Friday, Chief Justice of India N V Ramana expressed deep concern over the Rohini shootout and spoke to the Delhi High Court Chief Justice in this regard and advised him to talk to both police and the Bar to ensure that the functioning of the court is not affected.
Meanwhile, a group of lawyers have also sent a letter to the Delhi High Court Chief Justice D N Patel to initiate a public interest litigation and take cognisance of the issue regarding serious lapse in security arrangement in district courts here.
The letter, written by advocates Rishi Kapoor, Ankur Gogia and Shivam Sharma, has been emailed to the Registrar General of the high court.
“We fear the unpreparedness by the security arrangement in all district courts of Delhi and therefore, we are appealing to your Lordship to take appropriate action,” the letter said.
The lawyer’s petition said the Friday’s shootout is not the first-of-its -kind in Delhi and in the recent past, there have been incidents of shooting in the Dwarka court, a firing near the Saket court in May 2019 and an undertrial was killed after being shot inside the Rohini court complex in 2017.
Another incident similar in line to the Rohini court also took place in Karkardooma court in 2015 in which a Delhi Police head constable was killed when four armed assailants open fired inside a courtroom.
“The incident that has happened on Friday, at Rohini court, was truly well planned. The assailants posed as lawyers and were present inside the court room before the dreaded gangster was produced before the court.
“The ease with which the assailants entered into the court premises in the attire shows that they were well aware that it is easy to get access into the court by being in a lawyers’ attire,” the plea said.
Jailed gangster Jitendra Gogi and his two assailants posing as lawyers were killed inside the Rohini courtroom on Friday in a dramatic shootout that also saw the police fire bullets in retaliation, officials said.
Video footage of the incident showed policemen and lawyers rushing out in panic as gunshots rang out inside courtroom number 207.
The two gunmen dressed as lawyers are suspected to be members of rival Tillu gang, an official said, adding that over 30 shots were fired.
Witnesses said a law intern has also sustained bullet injury in her leg and some also claimed that the gang members pumped 10 bullets into Gogi, one of Delhi's most wanted criminals.
Sources said Gogi received about seven bullet injuries, even as there was no official confirmation from police on this.