Police personnel check vehicles during a search operation at the premises of the district court after it received a bomb threat via email, in Meerut, on February 16, 2026.
| Photo Credit: PTI
District courts in Uttar Pradesh on Monday (February 16, 2026) received bomb threat emails, leading to heightened security checks and intensive searches by police across court premises.
The emails threatened explosions inside the district court complexes. The 18 districts which received the threats included Lucknow, Varanasi, Moradabad, Meerut, and Ayodhya, among others. The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and other units of law enforcement are also conducting a probe into the emails.
“Acting swiftly on the information, police swung into action and launched searches on the court premises with the assistance of dog squads and bomb disposal units. Lawyers and office-bearers of bar associations were alerted and advised to remain vigilant, while being asked to immediately report any suspicious object or individual within the premises,” Vineet Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Law and Order, Lucknow district told The Hindu.
Security and law enforcement analysts say such hoaxes are spread by disgruntled anti-social elements to keep the administration on edge.
A former senior police officer and security analyst, Nurul Hoda, said, “These are hoaxes spread by disgruntled anti-social elements to keep the administration on edge. Such localised cyber mischief can be handled through robust cybersecurity. Larger international or anti-national threats are of a different order — and we are more than capable of dealing with them decisively”.
Published – February 16, 2026 11:47 pm IST