Delhi district courts are ranked second only after Chandigarh in terms of security features in a nationwide survey of infrastructure by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.
Security is an essential requirement in court complexes, particularly to deal with hartals or strikes, escaping prisoners, or witnesses being threatened. Providing for the safety and security of judges, administrative staff, lawyers, litigants, witnesses, prisoners and undertrials are a fundamental guiding factor while designing court complexes.
The Vidhi survey found that only 11% of the court complexes surveyed had a working baggage scanning facility, while 71% had fire extinguishers and 48% had emergency exit signs.
Top three States
Chandigarh, Delhi and Meghalaya were the top States based on three aspects of security — baggage scanning facility, emergency exit signages, and fire extinguishers.
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Manipur, Mizoram, Orissa and Tripura did not have a baggage scanning facility in any of the court complexes, both at the main entrance and inside the court building, the report said.
States that did not have the facility in most court complexes were West Bengal (22 out of 23), Chhattisgarh (24 out of 25), Gujarat (32 out of 33), Jharkhand (23 out of 24), Madhya Pradesh (49 out of 50), Rajasthan (34 out of 35).
‘Poor performance’
“The deployment of security personnel at the entrance could be a reason for the poor performance of most States as far as availability of baggage scanning is concerned,” the Vidhi report said.
“However, considering the large footfalls in court complexes on a daily basis, it is not practical for security personnel to thoroughly check baggage in the same manner that equipment does,” it added.
