Step up HC security, government told

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered the State government to provide adequate security to the court its Madurai bench in the wake of the September 7 bomb blast outside the Delhi High Court.Passing its order based on a petition by advocate R Karthikeyan, the First Bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and T S Sivagnanam, asked the State government to provide round-the-clock security to the area in and around the Principal Seat and the Madurai bench.During the hearing, Advocate General A Navaneethakrishnan submitted that the State government was ready to provide electronic gadgets like doorframe metal detectors at all gates of the court.Further it would order the posting of armed and unarmed police personnel at the premises.In a related development, a Full Court meeting of the High Court was held on Tuesday to discuss the need to augment security arrangements.The meeting also considered a letter from Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary of September 12, stressing the need to step up security on the court premises at Chennai and Madurai following intelligence about the likelihood of copycat attacks at important installations.Based on the assurance, the Bench postponed the hearing till September 26 and asked the State government to submit its report on steps taken to improve the security apparatus on that day.