Observing that injuries suffered by tribal teacher and suspected Maoist activist Soni Sori does not prima facie seem to be as simple as it were made out, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Chhattisgarh government to get her independent medical test done in Kolkata.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir directed the State government to get her medical examination done in NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata and asked the director of the hospital to submit the report to it by November 15.
Earlier, the Bench had asked the State government to name any convenient city where Ms. Sori could be taken while proposing Kolkata, Nagpur or Bengaluru as possible venues for medical test.
The bench passed the order after advocate Atul Jha appearing for Chhattisgarh said the State government has no objection to her medical examination in any other State.
The Bench was hearing a petition filed by Ms. Sori that she was tortured in police custody after her arrest from Delhi.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for Ms. Sori, had said that she was falsely implicated in a number of cases linking her to Maoists.
Accused by the police as a Maoist conduit, Ms. Sori has been accused by the police of receiving “protection money” from the Essar group.
She was arrested on October 4 in south Delhi by a Chhattisgarh police team and taken to Dantewada for interrogation. Essar has denied giving funds to Maoists.
