Lucknow Court Shootout: Plea In Supreme Court For Production Of Dreaded Criminals & VVIPs In Custody Through VC Only

In light of the recent shootout in Lucknow's Court killing Mukhtar Ansari's close aide and gangster Sanjeev Jeeva and other similar incidents leading to the death of hardcore criminals and VVIP prisoners facing trial, a plea has been moved before the Supreme Court by Advocate Pradeep Yadav seeking direction to the State authorities not to produce the dreaded criminals and  V.V.I.P accused persons physically before the Courts.

The plea states that Court complexes and places outside the prisons are not safe for the accused who are hardcore criminals facing trial, as in the past there have been many incidents of killing of prisoners who are facing trial. Yadav states in the plea that in the interest of justice, the trial proceeding should be conducted through video conferencing (VC).

It has been further mentioned in the plea that if the production of these hardcore / V.V.I.P criminals is done virtually instead of physical production, then the State Governments will save money spent on security arrangements and the lives of people including accused, police and innocent citizens who come to attend court proceeding can be protected.

Advocate Yadav, in his plea, highlights that in April 2023 gangster turned Politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed were shot dead by some unknown persons. In May 2023, in the Court complex of Jaunpur, criminals shot the detainee who was brought on production and the mob thrashed the accused while two persons received bullet injuries. In July 2022, four persons absconded with the accused who appeared in the District Court of Agra where a constable was attacked and seriously injured, the plea says.

Further, it states that similarly, in August 2022, rapid firing took place in Hapur District Court on the member of Sundar Bhati Gang who had come for the trial and the recent killing of gangster Sanjeev Jeeva on June 7, 2023, in Lucknow District Court, due to which one policeman along with a toddler were injured. 

Relying on such incidents, Advocate Yadav prays-"Issue a writ or order or direction in the nature of mandamus to direct the State Authorities not to bring the Dreaded Criminals/ V.V.I.P accused persons, physically to the courts instead of physical presence the presence should be registered through Video Conferencing in the Court, this will safe life of many persons and a lot of money that is being wasted in security arrangements and also time and energy of State machinery."

It has further been added in the plea that during the pandemic period, the infrastructure has been developed for Video Conferencing and that all the courts and prisons are equipped with video conferencing equipment and by resorting to video conferencing, lives can be saved.