Attempt on Fatepur Judge’s life; SC, Jharkhand HC take up Judge Anand’s death case

An attempt was made on the life of Additional District Judge Fatehpur Mohammad Ahmad Khan, according to a First Information Report (FIR) filed by him today.

The FIR states that a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) rammed into his vehicle, leading injures to the Additional District Judge. The judge was returning to Fatehpur from Prayagrak today, after a personal trip.

The judge told the police that recently he was threatened with dire consequences by a litigant, whose bail application he had rejected.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has suo motu taken cognisance of the death of Dhanbad Additional District and Sessions Judge Uttam Anand, after a vehicle rammed into him while he was on a morning walk.

Yesterday, Jharkhand High Court has also taken suo motu cognisance of the incident.

In the Supreme Court, Chief Justice of India N V Ramana and Justice Surya Kant directed Jharkhand Chief Secretary and Director General of Police to submit a status report on the investigation into the death of judge Anand. The two have been given a week’s time to submit their report to the Supreme Court.

The Bench observed that similar “incidents are happening across the country”. The Court order said, “Taking into consideration the duty and obligation of the State to create an environment and accord full protection to judicial officers as well as the legal fraternity so that they can perform their duties fearlessly, we deem it appropriate to take up this matter suo motu.

“…the gruesome incident has been widely reported in newspapers and video clippings of the incident are also being circulated on social media platforms, suggesting that it was not a case of simpliciter road accident.”

Chief Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan of Jharkhand High Court said, “We want a speedy, fair and professional investigation in the matter.”

The High Court directed the State Director General of Police to issue appropriate direction to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to be headed by Additional Director General of Police Sanjay A Lathkar to submit a report on the death of judge Anand as well as to submit a report regarding the crime rate in the state since February 2020.

The Court also sought information regarding the information received by the police about the occurrence of the incident, the time the FIR was registered and whether the post-mortem procedure was video-graphed.

The Jharkhand High Court took the matter suo motu following a letter from Principal District and Sessions Judge on July 29, informing the High Court about the incident leading to the death of Judge Anand.