Pune lawyers team up against littering in the court premise

This picture has been used for representational purposes.

Pune: In a bid to make the historic Shivaji Nagar court's premises clean, offences such as smoking, chewing tobacco, spitting and littering in the premise will be now considered liable for punishment. Offenders will be imprisoned for three months or will have to pay a penalty of up to Rs 2000.

This new rule is the result of an initiative taken up by a team of lawyers, led by Vikas Shinde and supported by Pratik Jagtap, Uttam Dhawale, Somnath Bhise, Kishor Jaybhai, Anil Jadhav, Pratap More, Vijay Kumbhar, Sujata Kulkarni and Dipti Rajput, practicing in this court build in the British Era. These lawyers had approached the Pune District Principal Judge and wrote a letter to Bombay High Court as well.

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"We have been practicing in court for more than a decade. When people spit in the premises and spoil it, it ruins the identity of the court. This is also punishable offence as per Section 3 of the Maharashtra Prevention of Defacement of Property Act 1995. It states that if people held committing such acts, they will either have to pay fine for Rs 2000 as well as three months' imprisonment."

Shinde further added "We are worried about future of the court if people continue committing such acts. The court is considered as a sacred place that gives petitioners a ray of hope to get justice for the cases. Therefore, it is our duty to keep the area clean and neat. Thus we need to follow the law which has been implemented so that people will be cautious before littering the place."

Acting on the grievance letter, the Principal District Judge has directed the rules to be followed in order to keep the premises neat and clean.

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