On Thursday,18th June 2020, a fire was reported to have broken out on the third floor of the Rohini District Court Premises. Also known as the North-west Delhi district court, it is one of the seven district courts in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
The said court has jurisdiction to deal with civil, criminal cases and rent and motor accident claims pertaining to West and North-West districts of the NCT and sees a heavy footfall on normal days. The construction of the court premises was completed in the year 2005.
The fire reportedly broke out around 9:30 am in the record room from where it expanded to other rooms and took a vicious turn. Various residents nearby noticed smoke rising from the complex. The fire was visible even from a considerably long distance due to the dense clouds of smoke as have also been captured on cameras and circulated.
As per the fire control department, no casualties have been reported so far, but several files and paperwork are said to have been destroyed due to the fire. While the cause of the mishap has not been specified by the authorities yet, but more updates are arriving as time passes, and the situation is entirely brought under control.
Court officials have also been instructed to assess the damage on the premises at the earliest.
The news of the fire comes at a time when the supreme court was working on setting up online facilities to ensure the smooth running of the judiciary amid lockdown. Such significant damage at this juncture could cause the legal mechanism to come to a halt while resulting in a massive delay to get the machinery back to work again.
