New Delhi : The Centre submitted to the Supreme Court said it was neither feasible nor advisable to have a dedicated national-level security force in lines of the Central Industrial Security Force or Railway Protection Force for the protection of judges and courts.
The Centre was responding to the suo motu case taken by the Supreme Court in the wake of killing of an Additional District Judge in Dhanbad in Jharkhand early this month.
The submission, made by Solicitor General of India (SG_Tushar Mehta, put the onus on state governments saying their police was better positioned to deal with security required by the judges and courts. The Bench headed by Chief Justice of India had asked centre if it was possible to formulate a specialized national force for judges’ security in lines of RPF, CISF etc.
There are broad guidelines pertaining to measures to protect judges and courts and the CJ asked SG if the Centre has ensured states were following the same. To this, the SG responded assuring the Union Home Secretary will convene DGPs and State Home Secretaries on the mater.
The top court has meanwhile issued strict direction to States to file counter-affidavit in this regard. Several among them had failed to respond to SC notice on the topic.
Context : 49-year-old District Judge in Dhanbad, Justice Uttam Anand, was knocked down by a vehicle while out on his morning jog on 28th July and investigations are underway to determine if he was target of criminal conspiracy.
