Aizawl: Describing the mob attack on a court building in Mizoram’s Lunglei district on Thursday as a ‘dark chapter’, Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Ajit Singh has urged state Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla to take stern action against the culprits.
‘I must say that the incident would be written as a dark chapter in the evolution of judiciary in the state of Mizoram,’ Justice Singh said in a letter to the Chief Minister.
Unless a stern action is taken immediately, the incident would encourage future similar adversities, said the Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court that exercises jurisdiction over seven North Eastern states.
The law enforcement mechanism failed immensely in Mizoram as hooligans trespassed court buildings, ransacked court offices and residence of court officers in Lunglei, he said in the letter on Friday.
Singh said he was shocked by the incident which was a slur on the administration.
He expressed hope that stern action would be taken by the state government “to bring the hooligans to book by collecting all the evidences against them, so that the faith and respect of the people at large remains intact on all the pillars of the Constitution”.
He also expressed expectation that the courts, offices and residential buildings are repaired promptly and adequate security is provided to all and sundry.
The Gauhati HC on Friday withdrew all the judges in south Mizoram’s Lunglei district and attached them with the District and Sessions Judge, Aizawl district following the mob violence in Lunglei district court.
The order came after a mob belonging to Zohnuai locality of Lunglei attacked the district court buildings with stones and bricks and also ransacked the official residence of the Civil Judge on Thursday.
People of Zohnuai gathered in the court demanding to ‘see the face’ of a murder accused who had killed a man of that locality on August 27. The crowd turned violent after learning that the accused was already remanded to judicial custody for a further period by a judge who held a camp court inside the district jail. Police have so far had arrested at least 27 people in this connection. (PTI)
