The accused, who had appeared before the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court, had to take shelter in the courtroom. Later, he was escorted to safety.

Earlier, Waliullah had been attacked by groups of lawyers in Lucknow, Varanasi and Ghaziabad.

The case had been transferred to Ghaziabad due to attacks on him. But there too, he was assaulted by advocates the first day he was produced in court.

The court had summoned Waliullah following an appeal filed by the state government against an acquittal order of August 26, 2008 by Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ).

Waliullah had been acquitted of charges of waging war against the government and sedition.

On Wednesday, Waliullah had appeared before the Bench of Imtiyaz Murtuza and SC Chaurasia. A group of over 50 lawyers, meanwhile, had gathered outside the courtroom and the moment Waliullah walked out they pounced on him. He ran inside the courtroom to escape the attack and took shelter in the judge’s cabin.

Paresh Pandey, Superintendent of Police (West), who led the team that escorted Waliullah to safety, said: “We rushed to the spot to find the lawyers raising slogans and creating a ruckus. It took over half-an-hour to disperse them and get Waliullah out.”

Waliullah was accused of orchestrating the blasts at Sankatmochan temple on March 7, 2006, which had claimed over 70 lives and injured over 100 others.

The state’s Special Task Force had arrested him in Lucknow’s Gosainganj on April 5, 2006.

In an order on August 26, the ADSJ SC Tripathi had sentenced him to 10 years’ jail in a case under Unlawful Activities Act and given him another three-year term owing to the recovery of arms and ammunition from his possession.