SC asks police to probe counter charges in molestation case

The Supreme Court today asked the Haryana police to probe into counter-allegations of a Jail Superintendent of Hisar in Haryana that he has been implicated by a woman inmate in a molestation case.
A bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar did not agree to the plea of former Additional Solicitor General and senior advocate Indira Jaising that the order asking the police to also probe counter-allegations of the accused police officer would put the woman victim in "jeopardy".
"It cannot be presumed that the person is guilty just because he is a Jail Superintendent. Any investigation has to be balanced. It has to be a both-sided investigation," the bench, which also comprised Justices D Y Chandrachud and S K Kaul, said.

"What are you doing my Lords? My Lords are prejudicing the case of the victim woman. The court is putting the woman to jeopardy," Jaising, appearing for the woman, said.
"Why the woman is not appearing before the Magistrate for recording her statement", the bench asked, adding that it may ask "convenient and inconvenient" questions and moreover, the version of the accused that he is being implicated should also be probed.
"He may be right or he may be a fraudster. His side also needs to be investigated," the bench said.

The woman, in the plea filed by her mother through lawyer Praveen Chaturvedi, had alleged that she was molested by the jail officer inside Hisar jail on the night of July 30, 2015.

It was alleged today that as she had refused to record her statement before a judicial magistrate under section 164 (recording of statement before a judge) of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), police has moved the local court for closure of the case against the Jail Superintendent.
The apex court directed the local court to issue notice to the woman before deciding on the closure report of police.
Disposing of the plea, the apex court also asked police to probe the assertions made by the Jail Superintendent before the apex court and then file the report before the judicial magistrate at Hisar.

Earlier, the apex court had ordered the shifting of the woman inmate from Hissar jail to any other prison in the state.
Besides seeking CBI probe, the plea had said the inmate be produced in the apex court "to enable her to make a statement before the magistrate with regard to her sexual molestation by respondent no. 3, the Jail Superintendent, Central Jail Hissar."
The girl is in jail in a case registered in connection with violent protests and clashes at self-styled godman Rampal Maharaj's ashram at Hissar in Haryana.
The plea was filed after the mother of the undertrial met her daughter in jail and got a letter which had the account of the incident.

"The act of the respondent no. 3 (jail superintendent) is in grave violation of provisions of the Punjab Jail Manual. The Chapter II defining Aims & Objectives of the jail administration wherein requisite protection and security of female prisoners has been laid to be duty of State where only female staff have access. Surprisingly, the respondent no. 3 had access to female prisons," the plea had said.