On 13 February, an explosion took place in Hazretganj’s Lucknow Collectorate, near the district magistrate’s office, with at least 3 people sustaining injuries while one of them being seriously injured. The accused bomber Jeetu Yadav was identified promptly by the police officials present in the premises during the incident.
As per sources, the blast was a result of a clash between two groups of lawyers on a complaint and was supposed to be an attack on one of the lawyers who were present in the court. Meanwhile, Sanjeev Lodhi, a Joint Secretary of the Lucknow Bar Association claimed that he was the target behind the explosion since he had been complaining about a few judicial officers.
According to the reports, police have found 3 more live bombs from the premises. The bomb used was a locally made explosive device. Angry lawyers gathered outside the chambers right after the explosions, denouncing the incident and the gap in security.
Earlier, in March 2019, a lawyer was shot dead in a court campus in Basti district and in June 2019, UP Bar Council Chairperson Advocate Dharvesh Yadav was shot dead in the premises of Agra Civil Court, by another lawyer named Manish Sharma who later shot himself. Further, on 17 December 2019, a man was killed and two policemen injured when unidentified assailants opened fire at Bijnore CJM’s court and subsequently, on 7 January, a lawyer Shekhar Tripathi was beaten to death with sticks by five men in Lucknow.
Meanwhile, the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh had asked the bar associations to abstain from work to put pressure on the government to pass legislation to protect lawyers.
As per sources, an explosion took place in Hazretganj’s Lucknow Collectorate, with at least 3 people sustaining injuries while one of them being seriously injured.#Lucknow #explosion pic.twitter.com/6l8q4Yq7r0
— B&B Associates LLP (@bnb_legal) February 13, 2020
