The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Delhi Police Commissioner to provide security to a woman lawyer who was allegedly manhandled by some policemen and others inside a police station here.
A vacation bench of Justices B.S. Chauhan and A.K. Sikri also asked the Joint Commissioner of Police to file an affidavit after considering all aspects of the matter.
When the bench was informed that eyewitnesses were being pressurised by the police, it said that policemen at the Lajpat Nagar police station will not summon any of the witnesses till further orders. Earlier, senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, amicus curiae in the case, pleaded for a CBI probe into the case on the grounds that witnesses were being ‘harassed’ by the police.
On May 9, a four-judge bench headed by Chief Justice R.M. Lodha had taken suo motu cognisance of the letter of woman lawyer Ambika Das alleging that some policemen and others manhandled her inside the Lajpat Nagar police station on April 4 when she had gone to serve a copy of a judicial order. The bench had asked the Police Commissioner to submit the action taken report on the complaint.
In a fresh application, the amicus curiae alleged that some eyewitnesses, who included poor vegetable vendors and rickshaw pullers, were being harassed to create evidence against the lawyer. Seeking transfer of probe from the Delhi Police to the CBI, the application said: “Ms. Ambika Das has reasonable apprehension that her witnesses are being forced by the DCP/ACP/SHO of the Lajpat Nagar police station to make statement against her. She also apprehends that she is being fixed in some false cases as she got missed calls from unknown Pakistan numbers on her mobile.”
