Kolhapur HC bench sets up panel to study & suggest measures to enhance security at district court complex

Kolhapur: The Bombay high court's Kolhapur bench has constituted a committee of 10 lawyers from the Kolhapur District Bar Association to study the security and safety concerns at Kolhapur's district court complex in Kasba Bawda.On March 7, a lawyer, while discharging her professional duties, was assaulted by a woman, who is involved in a divorce case in which the assault victim is representing the woman's estranged husband, outside a court room in the district court complex. The incident triggered a protest by lawyers and a PIL before HC seeking directions to the state for measures to ensure safety and security of lawyers."As the issue involved is concerning the security at the District Court Complex, Kolhapur, we appoint a Committee of Advocates practicing in the district court. The bar association has suggested the names Sampatrao Pawar, D N Pathade, R L Chavan, Ahijeet Kapse, Santosh Shah, Kalpana Mane, Harsha Khandelwal, Sarvesh Bhandigare, Raju Otari and Atul Jadhav. The committee will make suggestions for the upgradation of the security and requested to submit the report on or before March 26," the HC bench of Justice Madhav Jamdar and Justice Pravin Patil on Thursday.The court also observed that the Advocates' Association of Western India Kolhapur has suggested some measures such as increased patrolling, rotational deployment of police personnel, establishment of a permanent police chowki within court premises. The court asked Kolhapur superintendent of police Yogeshkumar Gupta to take into consideration these suggestions. The govt pleader stated that appropriate steps will be taken with respect to upgradation of CCTV in the District Court Complex, Kolhapur.