Umerkote: A 31-year-old woman attacked three people with an iron rod on the premises of the Jharigaon JMFC court in Odisha's Nabarangpur district on Saturday, injuring a judicial magistrate, a senior public prosecutor and a court constable.
The injured are Judicial Magistrate First Class Smita Lakra, 32, senior assistant public prosecutor Pradeep Kumar Pattnaik, 60, and court assistant sub-inspector Minaketan Gantayat, 59. The accused, Sanmati Majhi, has been arrested. She was an informant in an ongoing case.
Pattnaik's complaint, which is the basis of the FIR, says he had finished examining a witness and stepped into the Bar room while speaking on the phone. Majhi is alleged to have walked up and struck him on the head with the rod. With the prosecutor bleeding heavily, she tried to run.
Court staff, witnesses and Lakra rushed towards the noise. The accused is alleged to have turned on them. She struck Lakra, causing swelling on her forehead and a fracture to her middle finger, and then hit Gantayat, who suffered a blunt-force injury to the forehead. Staff and security personnel eventually overpowered her and seized the rod. Pattnaik needed multiple stitches.
Police sources said Majhi had carried the rod into the court complex hidden inside a yellow plastic bag. In his complaint, Pattnaik alleged that she came prepared to kill, to disrupt judicial proceedings and to attack public servants discharging their duties.
Nabarangpur superintendent of police Kashyap Parth Jagdish said a case was registered on Pattnaik's complaint and the accused was arrested. She was remanded in judicial custody after her bail plea was rejected. Security at the JMFC court has been tightened and further investigation is on, he said.
The incident has revived questions about how safe judicial officers and lawyers are inside court complexes.