Safety to life and property of citizens is state's responsibility: SC

The Supreme Court has said that it is the bounden duty of any State to ensure that the lives and properties of its citizens and other persons are at all times protected.

It said that every attempt which succeeds at the hands of anyone "whereby the efficacy of criminal law is diluted, will remove the very edifice of the rule of law fatally".

A bench of Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna made these observations while deciding a petition seeking to transfer a criminal case pending before a Jhajjar court in Haryana to a court in Delhi.

The transfer petition has been filed by 38 people of Jhajjar, whose properties were allegedly vandalized during 2016 agitation by members of the Jat community who were seeking reservation in government jobs and educational institutions.

It is the case of the petitioners that during this agitation, the members of Jat community vandalized and committed acts of arson which allegedly caused huge irreparable damage to them by setting their houses, godowns