CJI Surya Kant lays foundation stone for 7 infrastructure projects on Patna HC premises
Patna (PTI): Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Saturday laid the foundation stone for seven infrastructure projects on the Patna High Court premises.
The seven projects include an ADR building and auditorium, an IT building, an administrative building, a multi-level car parking, a hospital, a residential block for ministerial staffers of the Patna High Court, and an annexe building of the office of advocate general.
"The laying of foundation stones for the administrative block, the IT block and other facilities of the Patna High Court is very crucial. I believe this occasion assumes a deeper resonance in Bihar, which is a land that occupies a distinctive place in India's civilisational memory," Justice Kant said in his address.
He stressed that courts need to be equipped with the support that allows "judicial authority to be exercised meaningfully".
The CJI is on a two-day visit to Bihar. He arrived in Patna on Friday.
The CJI emphasised on "capacity building" which can lay the groundwork for a justice system that can "meet the demands of a growing population, increasing litigation and disputes of rising complexity".
"The first dimension of this effort is institutional capacity. A modern administrative block functions much like the nervous system of the court," he added.
Justice Kant asserted that the IT building will mark an important transition from courts that are "paper-heavy and time-intensive" to the ones that "are data-informed, digitally enabled and user-centric."
He said the ADR building and auditorium will serve as a "place of learning and exchange" by hosting, among other things, ADR initiatives and conversations that will "strengthen the relationship between Bar and the Bench."
Justice Kant also highlighted the importance of a hospital facility within the court premises because "justice is delivered by human beings and not machines".
VIDEO | Bihar: Chief Justice Surya Kant lays foundation stone of multi-building complex at Patna High Court.
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No 'VIP' involved in Ankita Bhandari murder case: Haridwar SP
Dehradun (PTI): Amid demands for a CBI probe into the Ankita Bhandari murder case, Haridwar SP (Rural) Shekhar Suyal on Saturday said that no "VIP" was found involved during the investigation.
Suyal told reporters here that the person whose name came up in the chats and during questioning, was a friend of Ankita, Dharmendra Kumar alias Pradhan, a resident of Noida. He was not a VIP, the officer said.
"During the investigation, police questioning revealed that he had come to the area for some work two days before Ankita's murder and had stopped at the Vanantra Resort for a short time to have a meal," he said.
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Suyal said that this was confirmed by the resort's records and questioning of the staff.
Urmila Sanawar, who claims to be the wife of former BJP MLA Suresh Rathore, recently released videos and audio recordings of her alleged conversations with Rathore, alleging that the 'VIP' in the Ankita Bhandari murder case is a person named 'Gattu'.
In another video, she identified Gattu as a top BJP leader in Uttarakhand.
Rathore, who was expelled from the BJP, said that his voice was generated using AI, and the audios have been widely shared with the intention of tarnishing his political image.
The Uttarakhand government on Friday said it was ready for any investigation into the Ankita Bhandari murder case "if credible evidence is presented".
Opposition leaders have demanded a CBI probe into the new allegations and the murder case, in which three people were sentenced to life imprisonment following an SIT investigation.
Ankita, who worked as a receptionist at a resort in Pauri district, was allegedly murdered on September 18, 2022. The state government had constituted an SIT to investigate the case.
The court sentenced Pulkit Arya, the owner of the resort and son of a BJP leader, and two others to life imprisonment in the case.
