A woman was injured after being shot inside a court complex in Delhi this morning, the police have said. She was immediately taken to the hospital by a police officer but the accused, who was dressed as a lawyer, escaped through the backdoor of the canteen and efforts are on to arrest him, they added.
The incident took place in the district court in Saket in south Delhi.
A mobile video of the incident showed the woman having a heated argument with the accused at the crowded court complex. The accused then points the gun at the woman and shoots her as she runs away to escape the bullets. While many lawyers can be seen standing at the court complex, none of them intervene, the video showed.
Four rounds were fired, according to the news agency ANI.
The woman was in the court for a hearing in a case related to a financial dispute when the accused shot her, a senior police officer said.
According to preliminary reports, the accused, who is a lawyer by profession but is currently suspended by the Bar Council, had filed a cheating case against the woman and an advocate at the Saket police station in July 2022. In his complaint, the accused had alleged that the woman took ₹ 25 lacks from him promising high returns.
“The accused had reached the court this morning dressed as a lawyer. He fired at the woman when she was discussing the case with her lawyer. He escaped through the backdoor of the kitchen,” police officials said.
The incident comes days after a lawyer was shot dead in southwest Delhi’s Dwarka by two men on bikes. The attackers had posed as lawyers to enter the court.
In the wake of the killing, a petition was filed in the Delhi High Court seeking the safety of legal professionals. The petitioners stated their concern about their own safety has been “aggravated by seeing the visuals and video of the cold-blooded murder of an influential and senior member of the Bar” and if “The Advocates Protection Act” is not passed in Delhi, the audacity of criminals to commit crimes against lawyers will increase.
There has been an alarming rise in incidents of violence inside the court premises in the national capital.
On September 24 last year, two gunmen dressed as lawyers fired multiple bullets at gangster Jitender Maan alias Gogi inside a courtroom in Rohini. Police personnel retaliated, allegedly killing the two on the spot.
In April last year, an incident of gun firing was reported at the Rohini court following a fight between two advocates and their client.
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