The Supreme Court on Monday held that incidents of violence inside court premises amounted to “gunda raj”, in the wake of an alleged attack on a lawyer inside Delhi's Tis Hazari court complex.
Emphasising the seriousness of the allegation, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said that violence within court premises could not be tolerated.
“This kind of Gunda raj is not acceptable to us. That means its failure of rule of law,” said CJI Kant.
The matter was mentioned before a Bench comprising CJI Kant and Justices Joymalaya Bagchi and NV Anjaria.
The lawyer who mentioned the matter said that the incident took place on February 7 before the court of Additional District Judge Harjit Singh Pal at Tis Hazari Court.
“I was appearing on behalf of the accused. The complainant’s advocate with many goons attacked me. Hit me," he said.
He added that the judge was present in the courtroom at the time of the alleged assault. He said,
“Judge was sitting right there. All members of court were there.”
CJI Kant enquired about whether the incident had been brought to the notice of Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya.
When the advocate did not indicate that such a step had been taken, CJI Kant directed that the matter should be taken up administratively.
“Write a letter to the CJ and mark me as well. Let High Court CJ take cognizance and action will be on administrative side,” he directed.
The Bench asked the advocate to follow the procedure and update it after approaching the Delhi High Court Chief Justice.
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