It was peak hour at the Delhi High Court, which is in the heart of the city. Wednesdays 10 a.m. are usually crowded as it is the day for Public Interest Litigations. Gate number 5 had a long queue for entry passes. Moments later, the place was littered with blood and gore, limbs and bodies. Bits of clothes were hanging from trees in the area.
In no time, the area was cordoned off by the police, and the Army was called in. Ambulances started rushing to hospitals with the injured. Bystanders, relatives and friends of victims started pouring in. Television vans screeched in one after the other.
Then came the rain, washing away some of the blood and possibly clues, too.
This is the same city that saw people coming out on to the streets unified by the anti-corruption agitation. The bonding today was anti-terrorism.
“I may be able to live with a corrupt man, but not with a terrorist,” Mr Amarjit Singh Chandhiok, President, Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA), told Business Line .
Noting that it was the second attack at the Delhi High Court in recent times — the first was in May — senior DHCBA functionaries said the blast showed a serious lapse in security. The lawyers rued that despite the attack in May, CCTV cameras were not installed at gates and vantage points.
“They (the culprits) must have carried out a reconnaissance of the court premises and found out the most vulnerable area,” a senior lawyer said, requesting anonymity. “This shows that they can attack anyone, anywhere. After every such attack, people bothered about it for sometime. Soon everything returns to normal and we forget about it, till the next attack.”
Former Solicitor General, Mr Gopal Subramaniam, said that the attack was an attempt to denude the authority of the State, particularly the judiciary, of its confidence and competence. He said it is uncanny that the attack took place on the day the Supreme Court was to hear the Mumbai blasts case.
He said he would write to the Home Minister suggesting deployment of full-time security to ensure that administration of justice is not interrupted.