TN Judicial Magistrate attacked with knife by office assistant inside chamber

A Judicial Magistrate in Tamil Nadu's Salem district was stabbed by his office assistant inside the court complex, The Hindu reported..M Ponpandy, Judicial Magistrate IV, was attacked by A Prakash inside the judge's chamber. The judge suffered minor injuries and has been admitted to the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital..The Hasthampatti police has registered a case against Prakash for offence Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The local police alleged that Prakash had recently been transferred from Omalur court and was unhappy with the same. He asked the Magistrate the reasons for the transfer when he was told that the transfer was ordered by Principal District Judge. He then took out a knife and attacked the Magistrate..Safety of judges has been a major talking point among legal fraternity after the death of Dhanbad Additional District and Sessions judge Uttam Anand who was killed in July 2021 when a vehicle rammed into him while he was out on his morning walk.While it was initially believed that the death of judge Anand was an accident, CCTV footage of the incident which surfaced, suggested that the vehicle was deliberately rammed into the judge as he was walking along the edge of the road.This had prompted the Supreme Court to register a suo motu case concerning judges safety.Subsequently, in September 2021, a shootout happened inside the Rohini Court, leaving three people including gangster Jitender Gogi, dead.Later in December 2021, a minor blast occurred in Rohini court though the culprit in that was later arrested.The Delhi High Court has also issued a slew of directions to strengthen safety measures inside courts in the national capital.