Irked over dismissal of civil suit, plaintiff throws shoe garland at judge in Indore

Indore: Unhappy over the dismissal of his civil suit, a 65-year-old plaintiff allegedly threw a garland of shoes at a district judge here in the courtroom on Tuesday, police said.

Mohammad Salim had filed a case in the court alleging that a mosque had been constructed by encroaching on government land in Azad Nagar area of Indore.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Vinod Kumar Dixit told reporters that the district court judge dismissed Salim’s civil suit after hearing arguments from both sides and observing that the mosque was not built on encroached land.

“As soon as Salim heard this decision of the court, he took out a garland of shoes which he had hidden in his clothes and threw it towards the judge,” he said.

Salim’s son Mohammed Raees was also present in the courtroom when the incident occurred.

An FIR would be lodged against the father and son under relevant legal provisions, Dixit said.

Meanwhile, Raees alleged that lawyers beat him and his father after the incident.

The lawyers tore the clothes of my father and stripped him, he claimed, adding that police personnel rescued him and his father from the lawyers and brought them to MG Road police station.

“My father was fighting the case for 12 years. He had said in the lawsuit that the mosque had been constructed by encroaching on the drainage line of the government land of the municipal body in Azad Nagar area and this construction is against Islam,” Raees said.

Indore Advocate Association’s Secretary Kapil Birthare rejected Raees’s allegations against the lawyers.

“The incident of throwing a garland of shoes towards the judge in the courtroom is very unfortunate. Strict action should be taken against the accused in the incident,” he said.

Birthare also demanded that strict security arrangements be made in the district court premises to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.