No need for dedicated force to protect judges, courts: Government

NEW DELHI: The Centre has told the Supreme Court that there is no need to create a dedicated security force to provide protection to judges and court premises, suggesting that a special unit or branch should be formed within the state police for the purpose.
Opposing a PIL which sought a special security force for the judiciary on the lines of the Railway Protection Force, the home ministry said it was for the state governments to provide security as ‘public order’ and ‘police’ come within their purview and the purpose would be served by creating a branch within state police to provide protection to judges. It said the Centre has framed guidelines and sent to all states/UTs on providing security to the judiciary and if that is implemented, there will be no need of creating a special force.
The government’s stand assumes significance as many members of judiciary, particularly from subordinate courts, face threat to life while discharging their duty. The vulnerability of members of the lower judiciary was recently exposed when a judge was allegedly mowed down by a vehicle on July 28 in Dhanbad in Jharkhand. The apex court took suo motu cognisance of the incident for which probe is on.
The Centre filed its affidavit responding to PIL filed by Supreme Court advocate Karunakar Mahalik in 2019 in view of frequent violent incidents inside court premises including clashes between police force and lawyers in Tis Hazari courts in Delhi and gunning down of the first woman chairperson of Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh inside Agra court premises.
“It has become expedient to improve the existing conditions of security measures in court premises across the country in view of several instances of attacks which took place in many district courts and HCs in the last decade including the murder of Uttar Pradesh Bar Council chairperson inside the court premises and the latest being police action against lawyers and subsequent clashes in Delhi. There have been various incidents of attacks on advocates, policemen, under-trial prisoners, accused persons, witnesses and people visiting courts,” the petition, filed through advocate Durga Dutt, said.
The petition said a special force for judiciary has been created in many other countries like Australia and the US and same should be done in India as the police force is not capable of providing foolproof security due to excessive workload.
Seeking dismissal of the PIL, the Centre said guidelines for the security of HCs and district/subordinate court had already been issued by MHA to all states government/UT administration and police heads in 2007, which provided that there should be a specialised unit/branch within the state police to look after the security of judges/ courts. It said there is no merit in having a new or revised mechanism to provide for an independent security system specialised for the protection of judicial bodies.