lucknow

Updated: Dec 18, 2019 12:15 IST

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognizance of the violence in a courtroom in Bijnor. The court summoned the state’s principal secretary home and police chief to apprise it with a plan to strengthen security of court premises.

One murder accused was killed and three others were injured in the December 17 attack.

The court has fixed December 20 as the next date of hearing in the case.

“It seems there is complete failure of law and order inside court premises in state. The most incompetent police professionals are deployed for security of court premises in state. Is 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 comprising Justices Sudhir Agarwal and Sunit Kumar said.

The judges told the Additional Advocate General that strengthening of court security in state is an issue since 2008 but not much has been done in reality.

If state government cannot provide adequate security in court premises then we will ask central government to deploy central forces for it, they added.

“Three recent incident of attacks on undertrial in Muzaffarnagar, on a lady lawyer in Agra and now in Bijnor shows that now criminals are so fearless in state that they are now entering court rooms and killing people,” they said.

Shahnawaz, killed in the Bijnor attack, was accused in the murders of property dealer and BSP leader Haji Ehsaan and his nephew Shadab on May 28 in Najibabad.

The police had arrested Danish, Shahnawaz and shooter Abdul Jabbar in connection with the murders. On December 17 afternoon, Shahnawaz was brought from Tihar jail to the CJM’s court for a hearing.

Sahil Khan, son of Haji Ehsaan, had barged into the courtroom along with his two aides and pumped three bullets into Shahnawaz, while also injuring two policemen.

Both were brought to the CJM court for hearing from Tihar jail in Delhi on Tuesday afternoon when the assailants fired at them, leaving Shahnawaz dead. Co-accused Jabbar suffered serious injuries.

Two policemen, who rushed to save the victims, were also injured in the firing.

There was panic in the courtroom and along with the others, even the judge had to run away to save his life.

Police arrested all three attackers after chasing them in the court compound.