Lawyers strike after CCTV footage shows ‘animal’ in Ghaziabad court complex

While lawyers said that CCTV footage shows a “leopard-like animal”, forest department officials said that it “seems to be jungle cat or common cat”

The lawyers at the Ghaziabad district court on Thursday abstained from work citing safety concerns after CCTV footage allegedly showed a leopard-like animal in the court complex again. Officials of the divisional forest department said the footage show an animal walking near the police post in the courts complex and they have deployed a team to ascertain whether that was a leopard.

Police and forest department officials inspect Ghaziabad court complex on Thursday. (Sakib Ali/HT PHOTO)

They, however, said at first glance, the animal appeared to be a jungle cat or could even be a common cat.

However, lawyers, litigants and staff at the courts complex were not ready to take chances, especially after February 8 incident when a leopard entered the courts and severely injured at least 10 persons. The animal was later tranquillised and captured and released into the Saharanpur range forests the next day.

“Footage from two CCTV cameras showed a small leopard walking near the police post area on the ground floor around 7.15pm Wednesday. We called in the forest department to trace and identify the animal. The lawyers on Thursday decided to abstain from work given the circumstances,” said Satendra Kumar Verma, administrative officer of the court.

“We have demanded that our safety be taken care of. There was a proposal to strike work on Thursday after the leopard scare,” said Yogendra Kaushik, president of the Ghaziabad bar association.

The lawyers said the officials ever since emergence of leopard on February 8 were not able to address the safety concerns at the court.

“Since that incident on February 8, the forest department has not carried out a thorough search of the court premises, which has several high-rise buildings, chambers of lawyers and green spaces. A lot of people visit the court every day and rumours about a leopard could trigger panic and may even lead to an untoward incident. So, thorough checks must be conducted of the premises to build trust,” said Vikrant Sharma, lawyer and environmentalist.

The forest department officials however refuted the claims and said they have sent a team to check for leopards on the courts premises.

“The CCTV footage was checked and our teams, along with the police, also conducted a physical search of the premises. We did not find any leopard at the courts complex on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. The animal seen in the CCTV seems to be jungle cat or common cat,” said Manish Singh, divisional forest officer.