- The Supreme Court sought sealed CCTV footage from Noida Sector 126 police station.
- A woman lawyer alleged 14 hours of illegal detention and sexual assault at the police station
- Policemen allegedly tore her coat, searched her, and threatened her with a pistol
The Supreme Court has sought the CCTV footage from the Sector 126 Noida police station in a sealed cover of an alleged incident where a woman lawyer was illegally detained for 14 hours and subjected to sexual assault and custodial torture by policemen.
The top court issued a notice to Noida police and stated that it was a case of blocking CCTV footage, highlighting that it is already dealing with the larger issue of ensuring functional CCTVs in police stations.
The bench of Justices Vikram Nath and NV Anjaria said the court normally doesn't entertain such cases. However, the court made an exception, considering the serious allegations and since the issue also pertains to the blocking of CCTV cameras.
The judges sought a reply from UP Police by January 7 and ordered, "The Commissioner of Police, Gautam Buddh Nagar, is to ensure that the CCTV footage for the concerned duration in the police station is not deleted and is kept in a sealed cover."
The petitioner, a practising woman advocate, was allegedly subjected to a sustained period of 14 hours of illegal detention, custodial sexual assault, torture, and coercion by uniformed police personnel at the police station in Noida Sector 126 since the December 3 night when she had gone there to assist a client.
"The core facts reveal that the Petitioner was targeted solely for discharging her professional duty and insisting on the mandatory registration of an FIR for her grievously injured client, Vinay Singhal. The Central Atrocity allegedly occurred during the illegal confinement (12:30 am to 2:00 pm)," the petition said.
During this period, the woman advocate was allegedly subjected to custodial sexual misconduct, where male police personnel, including the SHO, subjected her to physical manhandling and sexual assault and also gave her sexual threats.
They forcibly tore her Advocate coat, physically searched her body and clothes to locate a "secret video recorder," and gave her vulgar threats, the petition said, further alleging that a government pistol was placed on her neck by policemen, coercing her to surrender her mobile phone passwords.
She was also subjected to continuous threats of being killed in a "fake encounter."
It is further stated in her plea that this coercion led to the immediate and deliberate deletion of all recorded video evidence from her and her client's mobile devices. Facing threats to her life and liberty, the petitioner sought a direct intervention from the Supreme Court due to the extreme urgency and lack of an alternative remedy.
