Raj woman cop defies HC order to appear before House Committee

Gupta continued her defiant approach as she neither turned up nor did she inform about her unavailability despite last week's Rajasthan High Court order, in which she was asked to to appear before the assembly secretary with her lawyer.

Gupta, who is accused of breaching the privilege of a Committee on Women and Children Welfare, had moved the court against the four summons and the subsequent arrest warrant issued against her after she failed to appear before the Committee on October 29.

The court, however, did not give any relief to the officer and asked her to appear before the Committee.

Gupta was suspended on October 18 by state DGP Harish Meena after she was not found at her house when the police had gone to execute the arrest warrant against her issued by the Privilege Committee of the Assembly.

The officer is also accused of remaining absent from duty since October 15 without prior information.

The House Committee, headed by BJP MLA Suryakanta Vyas, had complained to Speaker Deependra singh Shekhawat that Gupta, then in-charge of Mahila police station at Gandhi Nagar area here, had refused to cooperate and misbehaved with a team member during team's surprise visit to the station in 2010.

The matter was then referred to the Privilege Committee which called the inspector four times, but she never appeared and instead approached the high court against its notices.

The court thereafter issued notice to the Assembly, which in turn decided not to respond, saying its powers were independent of the judiciary, and directed the DGP to arrest the inspector and produce her.

The police, however, failed to arrest the inspector and an officer reported to the Committee on October 18 that Gupta was not found at her house, so the warrant issued by the Committee could not be executed.

Last week, the high court had also disposed of Gupta's petition against Privilege Committee's orders, and directed her to appear before the assembly by October 29.