Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): In the wake of a shootout at a court in Delhi recently, the Madhya Pradesh High Court administration has issued an order for the issuance of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) cards to lawyers, judicial officers and court staff for entry into various court premises in the state.
As per the order and standard operating procedures issues by MP High Court registrar general R K Vani on Saturday, the RFID stickers would be handed over to lawyers and other staff members to paste them on their vehicles for entry to the high court's principal seat at Jabalpur, its benches in Indore and Gwalior, and district courts across the state.
On September 24, a turf war broke out inside a crowded Rohini courtroom in Delhi between two rival gangs in which a jailed gangster and his two assailants posing as lawyers were killed in the dramatic shootout, officials earlier said.
Last week, during a special committee meeting, chaired via video-conferencing by MP High Court's Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq to look into the matter of security in courts, it was decided to issue the RFID cards and stickers to lawyers, judicial officers and other court staff in the state.
"The recent attack on an undertrial inside a trial court at Rohini in Delhi by two assailants dressed up as lawyers is a harbinger of our worst nightmare coming true," the order said.
Similar attacks have taken place several times in district courts of Madhya Pradesh where "security and security consciousness is zero", it said.
"In MP, assailants enter district court complexes as members of the public and execute their plans...In Rohini, the assailants entered as advocates and that made all the difference," the order noted.
The order further said electric vehicles, mostly scooters with motors of less than 250 watt power, which do not require registration, do not qualify for RFID stickers and shall not be permitted in court premises. They shall be parked outside the court perimeter in places designated for it.
"However, the electric vehicles with registration numbers qualify for issuance of an RFID sticker," the order said.
