Gauhati HC withdraws judges from Mizoram court after mob attack

The Gauhati High Court has withdrawn all the judges from the District and Sessions Court of Mizoram's Lunglei district following mob violence in the court premises recently, an official said here on Saturday.

After a mob attack on the district court buildings with stones on Thursday, Registrar General of the Gauhati High Court H.K. Sharma issued an order on Friday, withdrawing the three judges of the Lunglei District and Sessions Court," a senior official of the district administration told IANS.

The judges withdrawn are Lunglei District and Sessions Judge R. Thanga, Additional District and Sessions Judge Helen Dawngliani and Civil Judge-cum-Judicial Magistrate First Class R. Malsawmdawngzuala.

The official said that the Registrar General also asked Lawngtlai district Senior Civil Judge-cum-Chief Judicial Magistrate Laldinpuia Tlau not to hold any circuit court in Lunglei district (in western Mizoram) until further orders from the high court.

A mob attacked the Lunglei district court buildings on Thursday and ransacked the official residence of a civil judge after a 26-year-old youth was produced before the court by police for allegedly killing another youth in Zohnuai locality in Lunglei district on August 27.

Before attacking the court, the crowd had demanded to see the accused youth, but police had turned down their demand.

Police arrested 17 people in connection with the violence and remanded them to judicial custody.

Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla and the Mizoram Bar Association of Lunglei district branch strongly condemned the attack on the court buildings and ransacking of the official residence of a judicial magistrate by the mob.

Condemning the attack, the Lunglei district unit of Mizoram Bar Association said in a statement that its members had stopped working in the court indefinitely in protest against the attack on the court buildings.

Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, besides Assam, fall under the jurisdiction of the Gauhati High Court, while Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur and Sikkim have separate High Courts.

--IANS

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