HC summons chief secy, other officials for security in courts

The J’khand high court had earlier directed the state govt to tighten courts’ security by deploying adequate forces

RANCHI: The Jharkhand high court (HC) has summoned a slew of state’s top officials, including the chief secretary and home secretary, allegedly for not taking adequate measures to tighten security measures in courts across the state.

A division bench of chief justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and justice Sujit Narayan Prasad on Friday sought personal appearance of chief secretary, home secretary, information technology secretary and building secretary through video conferencing on February 5. The bench wanted to know what steps have been taken to fix a tight security in courts.

The bench stated it would not tolerate any lapses in the security system and asked the aforementioned authorities to implement various orders passed by the Supreme Court and the HC in this regard.

“Non-compliance with its earlier orders makes out a case of contempt of court,” the bench said.

The court’s order came after a public interest litigation (PIL) was moved by one Hemant Sikarwar, a practising advocate of the HC.

The petition was filed two years back after two firing incidents had taken place on the premises of Jamshedpur and Hazaribagh courts, leading to few casualties.

Responding to the said PIL, the HC had earlier directed the state government to tighten courts’ security by deploying adequate forces and asked it to set up CCTVs, metal detectors and others equipment to spruce up the system.

The government too had filed an affidavit stating that it would create a separate cadre of police force for courts’ security. It had stated that a committee headed by the chief secretary was formed to look into the matter. The committee, among other things, had also recommended to set up a separate cadre of security forces over the issue. But, the same was yet to be implemented.

The bench sought a detailed reply from the government regarding steps taken in response to the committee’s recommendations.

The petitioner, however, informed the bench that many courts in the state didn’t have their own boundary walls.

Expressing displeasure, the bench said that good quality CCTVs with audio recording facility should be installed in all courts.