New Delhi:
At a hospital in Delhi, the medical student, who was gang-raped on a moving bus, gave her account of what happened to a judge for the second time today.
Her statement will be used in the trial of the six men arrested for the gang-rape.
Her statement was recorded first on Friday night, but Sub-Divisional Magistrate or SDM of Vivek Vihar, Usha Chaturvedi, has alleged that the police tried to intimidate her and interfere with the crucial process partly by dissuading the student's mother from allowing the statement on camera.
The police has countered that it was the student's mother who did not want her daughter to be video-taped.
"It was the girl's mother who objected to the videography...Doctors, too, weren't keen on video-taping the statement as more people inside the hospital room could have raised the risk of infection," Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said today. (
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Ms Chaturvedi has not questioned the contents of the statement or suggested that it was influenced by the three police officers, who she accuses of trying to intimidate her.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has asked the Home Ministry to conduct an inquiry into Ms Chaturvedi's allegations which she described as "alarming" and "serious." Sources say the Home Ministry is likely to agree to the chief minister's request and will set up a committee headed by a woman to look into the complaint.
Delhi Police has strongly refuted the allegations of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate.
"We requested for a woman SDM for recording of the statement...there was no police interference in SDM's recording of statement...No questionnaire was given to the SDM by the police...SDM recorded everyone's statement without any complaint," Mr Kumar said.
He also said that the three officers named by the magistrate were not in the hospital room when the student shared her account of the attack and that the magistrate was free to ask the student any questions she wanted. Mr Kumar also asked why Ms Chaturvedi didn't recuse herself if she felt the police was interfering.
"If the atmosphere wasn't conducive, the SDM could have left...She made no complaint to us. Then all of a sudden, we were told a complaint was filed and a copy of the complaint was given to the media. It is very sad, because it can affect the investigation," the top cop said.
A section of the police believes that the chief minister is using Ms Chaturvedi's allegations to embarrass the Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar.