Act against Kangaroo courts

CHENNAI: A writ plea has been made in the Madras High Court to order a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge of the HC into the alleged running of Kangaroo courts on Egmore Court premises.In their plea filed on Thursday, A Nagoor Gani, his sister Roshan Sulaiku Banu and mother A Alima Beevi of Pudu Nagar, Chennai, alleged that some unruly advocates were unleashing threats and violence against the litigant public. Some advocates also faced the same problem, the petition said, for which 97 advocates filed their ‘vakalats’.The petitioners appeared for a trial at the Egmore Court in connection with a domestic violence case. “When we were waiting at the court, an advocate, Kannan alias Durai Kannan, who claimed to be an associate of advocate Kamaraj, called my brother Sadique and threatened him to pay Rs 25 lakh and settle the matter,” said Nagoor Gani in his affidavit.He further stated Kamaraj asserted, ”If you think the court will deliver justice, you are mistaken, as inside the Egmore Court, we are the police; we are the judges; even the police or the judges couldn’t get their complaints filed against us. Everyone knows that we committed a murder inside the court campus, even the Session’s Court can’t punish us, so better settle the matter and go home.” Subsequently, when the cross examination was conducted before the X Metropolitan Magistrate, these advocates abused Sadique in the presence of the Magistrate. In the meantime, they beat up Gani and his brother, which resulted in the Magistrate calling the police, the petition said. They also surrounded his brother’s counsel and threatened him with dire consequences. The police rescued the litigants from the advocates but they refused to take a complaint against the advocates, said the petitioner.“As a litigant, I have the right to protection at least within the court campuses. My right  to appear in obedience to the summons of the court shouldn’t be hindered… A right to appear in the court should be without fear, which I am advised is one of the fundamental rights,” he pleaded.