- Former Bhopal District Judge Giribala Singh is now an accused in Twisha Sharma's death case
- Her police remand ends soon; decision on judicial custody and jail housing is pending
- Security concerns arise about housing Singh with inmates she once sentenced
Three years ago, she was the highest judicial authority in Bhopal, presiding over some of the city's most sensitive criminal cases. Lawyers rose when she entered the courtroom. Convicts awaited her verdicts. Police officers stood before her bench. Now, at 63, retired District and Sessions Judge Giribala Singh finds herself on the other side of the courtroom.
In one of the most extraordinary reversals in recent legal memory, the former Bhopal District and Sessions Judge who headed the district judiciary between July 2021 and February 2023 walked into the same court complex last week not as a judge, but as an accused in the high-profile Twisha Sharma death case, escorted by CBI officers.
As Singh's police remand comes to an end on Tuesday, a new and highly sensitive question has emerged behind prison walls and within legal circles. If she is sent to judicial custody, can she safely be housed in a regular jail barrack?
Sources familiar with prison administration say the concern is not merely procedural it is personal and potentially serious.
During her judicial career, Giribala Singh heard and decided numerous criminal cases, including matters involving hardened offenders, serious criminals, and accused linked to high-profile investigations such as the Vyapam scam. Several inmates currently lodged in Madhya Pradesh prisons are believed to have been convicted or sentenced by courts presided over by her.
"Ordinarily, an accused is sent to jail and treated like any other inmate. But a former judge presents a completely different security challenge," said a source familiar with prison procedures.
Officials privately acknowledge that the prospect of a former district judge sharing prison space with inmates who may have faced conviction or lengthy sentences under her judicial orders creates an unusual and potentially volatile situation. Prison authorities are therefore expected to conduct a detailed security assessment if judicial custody is ordered.
The CBI is yet to indicate whether it will seek an extension of police remand or produce Giribala Singh before the court seeking judicial custody. The decision is likely to depend on the agency's assessment of the interrogation conducted so far and whether further custodial questioning is required.
Meanwhile, investigators continue to scrutinise the defence put forward by Giribala Singh and her son, Samarth Singh. Both have denied allegations of assault and destruction of evidence in connection with the death of model and actress Twisha Sharma. According to sources, the mother-son duo have maintained that relations with Twisha were cordial and normal.
The CBI is now matching those claims against witness statements, forensic findings, electronic evidence and other material collected during the investigation. On Monday afternoon, investigators also carried out a reconstruction of events linked to the case, while examinations of seized evidence continue.
As the remand clock runs out, the courtroom where Giribala Singh once dispensed justice may now decide her immediate fate. And if judicial custody follows, prison authorities could find themselves confronting a rare question how do you protect a former judge inside a system where many inmates may remember her not as a fellow prisoner, but as the person who once pronounced judgment upon them?
