No lessons learnt

Four months after a failed bid to attack the Delhi High Court,terrorists struck again,killing 13 and injuring 88. Why didnt the government get its act together after that first warning?

Rarely do terrorists attack with prior warning. However,the Delhi High Court strike is a stand-out example of an attack repeated within four months of the first failed attempt. This is an ignominy Delhi Police will have to live down because details show that almost every measure that was considered after the first attempt on May 25,remained on paperso much so that even the demand for armed paramilitary guards outside the High Court reached the Home Ministry only a couple of weeks ago and North Block is still processing the file.

It was a gamble on the governments instinct for inaction that seems to have paid off for the terrorists. That dovetails with what Home Minister P Chidambaram pointed out on Friday,when he said that there was a reluctance to take decisions on purchases,which is what stalled the procurement of CCTVs for the court complex. Result: the difficulty levels could never be raised for the plotters,who simply walked back and were bold enough to target the reception area instead of the car park and once again on a Wednesday,just like May 25.

With no security aid in place,all that investigators are now left with is the metal frame of a briefcase that purportedly carried the nitrate-based explosive. By Thursday,even that theory faced some challenge because some eyewitness accounts claimed that they had seen someone place a bag. But after a detailed debate,investigators are sticking to the briefcase theory. Beyond that,the case did not receive any further enrichment from the spot.

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In all,the policing effort after the May 25 incident did not help prevent or deter the attack. Even rudimentary equipment,which could have helped investigators now,was not installed. And that is a new low because an effective model lay just a few lanes across in the Supreme Court.

A couple of years ago,there were specific threats to Supreme Court judges which prompted a complete review. The Intelligence Bureau,along with Delhi Police and the Supreme Court,drew up a security plan which was put in place in weeks and strengthened over months. There is a dedicated DCP (Deputy Commissioner of Police) with a posse of 150 police personnel for SC security,which is now a three-tiered affair with radio frequency tagging for cars like in Parliament. Recently,a jammer to deactivate high-frequency gadgets was also installed there.

The thinking seemed to be similar in the case of Delhi High Court after May 25a three-tier security,full CCTV coverage,setting up armed guards and installation of state-of the-art door frame metal detectors with private security guards. These remained proposals till terrorists revisited the court complex on Wednesday. This was also a daring attack because the High Court is located next to a Territorial Army battalion set-up.

A committee headed by the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court and which has judges,representatives of the lawyers and the government,held about a dozen meetings to finalise a fool-proof security plan for the High Court but despite repeated missives,written as well as verbal,the committee couldnt get the Delhi governments PWD to act any faster.

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Tenders were floated thrice by the PWD (for CCTVs) but due to some problem with the technical bids,each time the bids were cancelled. This shows how serious the PWD was about the security of such a vital institution, says advocate

D K Sharma,secretary,Delhi HC Bar Association.

At a meeting held to review the security arrangements that had to be put in place in the court after the May 25 blast bid,Delhi Police Commissioner B K Gupta had assured that a repeat would not happen. Hundred days later,he is eating his words since nothing that he promised was delivered. There was still no sign of the cops in plainclothes as had been promised. Though X-Ray machines has been installed at all nine gates,security continued to be lax at all points.

Senior Delhi Police functionaries also attribute the blast to the decline in the performance of its Special Cell. There has been no progress in investigations into the May 25 incident and that has been the record for Delhi Police ever since the serial blasts of September 2008 in the city. Minor attackslike the one in Mehrauli or in Jama Masjidhave not been probed with urgency. May 25 too fell in that category but as it now turns out,the bombmaker and the plotters had evolved by September 7. Now,the May 25 case has also been handed over to the National Investigation Agency.

Besides,there were quite a few alerts coming Delhis waysome general but others like the one in July were specific about the High Court. The alert then was about Sikh outfits seeking revenge for Devinder

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Pal Singh Bhullar,the Khalistan militant whose mercy plea against the death sentence awarded to him by the Supreme Court was turned down,but it was an alarm bell loud enough to step up vigil and find a way out with tenders.

Now,with 13 people dead and 88 injured in Wednesdays bomb attack,things are finally moving. The Sports Authority of India (SAI),which was involved in last years Commonwealth Games,has offered to provide 243 CCTV cameras. Also,the Rajasthan Armed Police personnel,who were looking after the security at the entry points of the High Court,are being replaced by the CRPF personnel.

Having failed to prevent this attack,sources say the pressure is now on the investigators to deliver. As a top-ranking official said: It has become vital to catch hold of those behind this attack if we want to push the terrorists back,otherwise the next one is just round the corner.