[Rohini Court Firing] Plea in Delhi High Court seeks security upgrade in Courts

A Delhi-based lawyer has moved the Delhi High Court following the Rohini Court shootout incident on Friday in which three people were killed and the question of lax in security were raised [Deepa Joseph v. Commissioner of Police, Bar Council of Delhi]..The petition filed by advocate Deepa Joseph, through advocate Robin Raju, said the videos, images and the related information over the incident left her “mentally jolted”.Her plea argued that Friday’s incident was not the first in Delhi.“In the recent past there have been incidents of shooting in the Dwarka Court, a firing near the Saket Court in May 2019 and earlier in 2017, an undertrial was killed after being shot inside the Rohini Court Complex. A shocking incident similar in line to the incident in Rohini Court was the killing of a Delhi Police head constable when four armed assailants open fired inside a courtroom at Karkardooma Court Complex in the year 2015,” the petition stated..The shootout that saw the killing of an alleged gangster Jitender Gogi was stated to be “truly well planned”.The plea highlighted that the ease with which the assailants had entered the court premises in the attire of advocates showed that they were well aware that it is easy to get access into the court.“The petitioner as someone who visits the district courts in Delhi has also seen how the Police personnel present at the court entrances more often than not step back from frisking a person who is in a lawyer's attire. The point that the petitioner wishes to highlight is that the level of frisking of lawyers also needs to be made at the same level as in High Court of Delhi and the Supreme Court of India,” it was submitted..The plea suggested installation of bio metric punching devices outside the entrance gates of all the courts. “The petitioner knows that there may be a section of lawyers who will not appreciate this suggestion of the petitioner, but the petitioner is making this suggestion considering the overall safety and security of judges, lawyers, court staff and litigants as a whole,” the plea clarified.Joseph also sought a strict direction by the High Court to the Delhi Police Commissioner to instruct all the police personnel at court entrances to ensure that they check the ID cards of each and every lawyer who enters the court premises..The Coordination Committee of all District Bar Associations has called for boycotting court work, both physical and virtual, on September 25 in the light of the shootout.