Patna, 18 November
A judge was allegedly attacked by two policemen inside a courtroom in Bihar’s Madhubani district on Thursday, following which the Patna High Court took suo motu cognizance of the matter and asked the state’s Director General of Police to file a status report.
During the hearing of a case, both the policemen entered the courtroom, allegedly pointed a gun at Jhanjharpur Additional District and Sessions Judge Avinash Kumar and attacked him. The judge is safe but reportedly shaken by the sudden development.
SHO Gopal Krishna and Sub-Inspector Abhimanyu Kumar also attacked the lawyers and the court staff who were trying to save the judge, injuring them. Terming the incident as “unprecedented and shocking”, a division bench of the HC directed the DGP to file a status report in a sealed cover on November 29.
The DGP was also directed to be present in the court that day. “Prima facie, it appears that this episode jeopardizes the independence of the judiciary. Therefore, we consider it appropriate to issue notices to the respondents to the Chief Secretary, DGP, Principal Secretary, Home Department, and SP (Madhubani),” the court said. — PTI