Ranchi, Dec. 9: A veteran advocate was punched and kicked till he bled on the guarded premises of Jharkhand High Court late this afternoon, prompting a division bench to immediately summon the district police chief and order a security rejig.
An FIR has been lodged and a Doranda businessman, Rahul Gupta (28), arrested for the "unprovoked assault" on advocate Girish Kumar (48) who was administered first aid in the court dispensary.
The high court in Doranda has five gates - two exclusively for judges and three for lawyers, court employees and litigants. There are 10 doorframe metal detectors and 11 handheld ones. Around 155 policemen, including a DSP and 12 sub-inspectors, are posted on the premises. While IDs are a must for securing entry, a five-member patrol team keeps tabs on every visitor.
Such elaborate arrangements, however, didn't come to the rescue of advocate Kumar who was manhandled for 15 minutes, in front of the men in khaki, for protesting against rash biking.
After the day's proceedings, Kumar - who has been practising law for 15 years now - was on his way to the parking lot outside Gate 3 when Gupta, apparently speeding through a narrow passage on his bike, almost knocked him down. Kumar said he only asked the young man to be careful, but the latter flew into rage and started hitting him.
As the high drama unfolded at the two-wheeler parking lot of the high court, policemen allegedly stood mute witness. Other lawyers rushed to help when Kumar started bleeding from the mouth. They caught hold of Gupta and handed him over to police.
President of Advocates' Association of Jharkhand High Court Anil Kumar Kashyap, its secretary Hemant Kumar Shikarwar and other office-bearers mentioned the matter before a division bench of acting Chief Justice Pradip Kumar Mohanty and Justice Ananda Sen.
The bench summonsed SSP Kuldeep Dwivedi immediately. As the police chief reached the high court in Doranda, he was told to lay "special emphasis on security of advocates".
Dwivedi assured the court that urgent steps would be taken and, for starters, the number of armed guards would be increased on the premises. He also told the court that policemen who were on duty near Gate 3 at the time of the incident would be removed forthwith.
In his FIR, advocate Kumar has also accused Gupta of stealing his gold chain, but the businessman has denied all charges levelled against him.
Gupta pleaded innocence in front of police and media, saying he was being falsely implicated in the case. Eyewitnesses, however, told this correspondent that Gupta was guilty of both reckless riding and unprovoked assault.
Advocates association secretary Shikarwar claimed the security apparatus at high court was in a shambles. "An advocate in uniform within court premises is beaten up in the presence of policemen. Do I need to say anything more?"
Trail to Calcutta
A team of Jamshedpur police, hunting for the shooters of Amit Rai (35), left for Calcutta today after two unreserved railway tickets - meant for Bandel-Howrah and Howrah-Tatanagar - were found from the December 6 murder scene in Sonari.
Amit was a trusted aide of businessman Upendra Singh who was shot dead on civil court premises on November 30. The key accused in both cases is gangster Akhilesh Singh.
DSP (HQ-II) Kailash Karmali confirmed that a police team had left for Calcutta to verify who bought the two tickets. "Though the tickets were unreserved, we suspect they dropped from the pockets of one of the shooters," he said.
