Police said the bomb had apparently been placed in a suitcase near the reception where scores of petitioners were queuing for their entry passes to the court complex, situated in the centre of the Indian capital.
The court buildings were evacuated as police blocked off the entire area and emergency services rushed the injured, some of them in a very serious condition, to hospital.
"Nine people have been killed and 40 injured. We have no confirmation yet about the kind of bomb used," Delhi sub-inspector Mohammed Akhlaque told AFP.
The explosion occurred around 10:15 am (0445 GMT). There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
"More than 100 people were in a queue at the reception," Rahul Gupta, a petitioner whose case was listed for a hearing Wednesday, told AFP.
"Then there was a huge explosion. I saw a lot of people lying around in a pool of blood."
It was the first major bomb attack on Indian soil since triple blasts in the financial capital Mumbai on July 13 that killed 26 people. Those attacks remain unresolved.
"I was standing at the counter at gate number five getting my pass made when then was a loud blast right behind me," Rajesh Gupta, a 45-year-old businessman, told AFP after the New Delhi attack.
"My hand was injured. My colleague suffered a serious injury in his leg, he has been taken to hospital," he said.
"The area was very crowded, there must have been some 200 people there.
"People have been cordoned off from the area now. The scene here is total chaos. People are really frantic and worried about their friends and loved ones," he added.
It was the second time the court has been targeted this year. In May a low-intensity bomb exploded in a parking lot near the court cafeteria. There were no casualties.
One lawyer inside the court told AFP how he was working in his office when the bomb detonated.
"I was in my chambers when I heard a huge explosion and the windows in my room were blown in," M.I. Chowdhary said.
"People were carrying the injured away. Some of them looked horribly hurt.
"That time is peak hour for petitioners and other people getting their entry passes at the reception area. So it seems somebody had timed it to cause maximum casualties.
"Security is really not up to the mark. It needs to be tightened around such a sensitive target," Chowdhary said.
Recent bombings in India include a blast in February last year at a packed restaurant in the western city of Pune, which killed 16 people including several foreigners.
In 2006, a series of seven high-powered blasts on suburban trains in Mumbai killed 187 commuters and left 800 injured -- an attack that India blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
(U.H-RN)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
