Lawyer shot dead inside district court in UP’s Shahjahanpur city
An advocate has been arrested in the case, the police said.
A lawyer was shot dead at a district court in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur city on Monday, NDTV reported. An advocate was arrested in the case.
The body of the lawyer, who has been identified as Bhupendra Singh, was found on the third floor of the court building. A country-made pistol was found near the body.
S Anand, Shahjahanpur Superintendent of Police, told NDTV that Singh was likely alone when he was killed.
The police found the accused after examining the CCTV footage of the court building.
“He [the lawyer] accepted the crime,” said Additional Director General of Police Prashant Kumar. “IG [Inspector General] Range Bareilly is at the scene of the crime and interrogating the accused. Old enmity is the cause of the crime.”
Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati condemned the incident, saying that the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh was exposed by the killing.
“The murder of a lawyer in the court premises of Shahjahanpur district of UP is very sad and shameful,” she said in a tweet. “Now finally the question arises that who is safe in UP? Government should pay proper attention to this.”
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that the killing proved that “no one was safe” in Uttar Pradesh.
“The legal and judicial fraternity is an integral pillar of our democracy,” she said in a tweet. “The brutal murder of an advocate in broad daylight in court premises in Shahjahanpur is another chilling reminder that no one is safe in today’s UP – not women, not farmers and now not advocates.”
This was the second instance of firing inside a court in the country in less than a month’s time.
On September 24, gangster Jitender Gogi was shot dead inside the premises of the Rohini court in Delhi. The attackers, who were members of a rival gang led by jailed gangster Sunil alias Tillu Tajpuriya, were shot dead by the Counter Intelligence team accompanying Gogi.
On September 30, the Delhi High Court took suo motu cognisance of the incident. It sought suggestions from the law and home affairs ministries as well as the police and the Bar Associations to improve the security inside all court complexes in the national capital.
