Providing adequate security to the judges and judicial officers including the retired judges of the High Court and other courts is a very important issue. The judges are also vulnerable to the threats of criminals, terrorists and others because they are supposed to administer justice strictly in accordance with the law of the land. The judges and judicial officers are neither friends nor foes; they go by the books of law like constitution etc. and obviously, their judgments and verdicts cannot be pleasing all and displeasing none. The law takes its course on the basis of logic, which in turn, is codified in the law books. A retired judge of the High Court or subordinate courts is as much vulnerable to the threats of the miscreants as a sitting judge is. Therefore, the State has to ensure that the retired judge is provided adequate security. Remember Nila Kanth Ganjoo was a retired Sessions Judge when he was gunned down by the terrorist of JKLF in Maisuma Bazaar because he had given death sentence to Maqbul Bhat.
Apart from securing the person of the judges and judicial officers against any threat to life, it is also important that the premises of the courts and entire court complex are secured against any attack by the militants or other criminals. With hundreds of cases to be disposed off there are always huge crowds in the court complex and in the halls were litigants, lawyers, court staff, judges, visitors, witnesses and many others have to come, meet, talk and examine. In such a situation, security becomes vulnerable if adequate measures are not in place. It is easy for the criminals to mix up in the crowds to hide their identity and then cause a grave situation disrupting the peaceful environs in which the judges are supposed to carry out their work.
Considering a PIL case pending before it, the Division Bench of the State High Court in which the applicant had sought to know what security measures the State had adopted to ensure the safety and security of the retired judges and the court complexes, the SSP Security gave the Bench some details of the security measures that have been approved by the Security Review Coordination Committee. The Division Bench has observed that, “All Judges of this court are categorized as “Z” category protectees. Presiding Officers of TADA/POTA courts have also been placed in “Z” category. Other Judicial Officers are provided security cover by the District Police within their territorial jurisdiction as per local threat”. The DB added that the fresh compliance report, though comprehensive and elaborate, fails to identify the category in which the sitting Judge is placed immediately upon demitting of office. The report of the SSP is vague and non-committal about security to the superannuated judges. As has been explained above, the DB directed that the superannuated judges of the High Court and subordinate courts have to be provided with some security and in this connection, the court has given four weeks time to the Advocate General to come out with a clear plan of extending security umbrella over the retired judges and judicial officers.
The Division Bench has focused attention on the security of the court complex, entry to the halls of the court and necessary security arrangements to control the crowds that assemble in the court premises in connection with their court cases. The DB has taken a number of measures which could be and should be taken by the security organization to insulate the court complexes and the judiciary against any activity which creates hurdle in smooth functioning of Judiciary. It has dealt at length with the entry doors desiring that there should be separate entry doors for the judges, lawyers and the judicial staff. The DB has considered issuance of identity badges to the judicial staff, officers and assistants; separate entry and exit gates, installation of 50 CCTVs in Jammu and Srinagar complexes, removal of all inflammable materials from Malkhana and construction of a new Malkhana slightly away from the court complex.
There are a handful of suggestions coming from the Division Bench in regard to updating security of the judicial officers and the complex. It has called upon the Principal Sessions Judge, Jammu to submit comprehensive suggestions on how various facets of security in the court complexes could be improved so as to allow minimum chance to miscreants to carry out their nefarious designs. Four weeks have been given to him to finalize his report. We have always considered it extraordinarily important to provide full security to the judges whether sitting or retired. We also highly appreciate the perception of the DB that the entire court complex needs to be brought within the ambit of security surveillance. The measures suggested by the DB are visionary and should be implemented without loss of a single day.
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