New Delhi, Sept 7: The first reaction from a senior Delhi Police official to Wednesday's bomb blast outside Delhi High Court was that it took place outside the "controlled area".
By "controlled area", he meant the premises of the Delhi High Court housing the Judges Chambers, the lawyers chambers and the surrounding space, to which entry of any outsider is restricted, unless he is an official, a judge or a lawyer.
For the common man, the space was pushed out to the reception area outside the High Court gates no. 4 and 5.
Every morning, huge crowds used to jostle in queues from 9:15 am onwards to gain entry passes, even as policemen used to be busy manning the "controlled area".
There was hardly a policeman at the reception area on Wednesday when the blast took place.
The common man going to the Delhi High Court was thus put at the mercy of fate.
Flash back to May 25 this year, when a low-intensity blast took place and caught the police napping.
The minor explosion had taken place when an explosive kept in a white polythene bag near a lawyer's car parked at Gate No 7 on Service Road went off at around 1.25 pm on that day causing panic.
Delhi High Court lawyers had then pointed out to the lax security measures "outside" the High Court premises.
Delhi Police groped for clues in the dark for nearly four months and couldn't get any.
“It was not an accident. There was a minor explosion. A packet containing explosives kept in a plastic bag near the car's right side exploded. There were minor damages to the car. There was no casualty or injuries,” Dharmendra Kumar, Special Commissioner (Law and Order), had then told reporters on that day.
The May 25 blast was the second in the [preceding eight months, the previous one being a blast in car on September 19 last year near Jama Masjid for which terror outfit Indian Mujahideen took responsibility, but the Delhi Police could never get hold of the culprits. That blast took place after two unidentified men opened fire at a Taiwanese media crew ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
For the May 25 blast, Dharmendra Kumar had said that the car owner has nothing to do with the incident. He said lawyer Rajat Jain had parked his car and had gone to the canteen to have food.
