SC asks woman lawyer to give electronic proof in assault case

The Supreme Court today asked a woman lawyer, who was allegedly assaulted in a police station here, to provide audio-visual evidence of the incident to police for their forensic examination.
"If you want the case to be investigated further then please give that audio-visual evidence to the police, Otherwise, we will close the case," a bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice R Banumathi said.
It further asked the counsel for Delhi police to provide one certified copy of the electronic proof back to the woman lawyer after she submits the originals for the forensic test.
The court allowed the plea that the electronic proof, pertaining to the audio-video recording of the incident, can only be handed over to an independent agency.

"You (lawyer) cannot hold it with yourself. How will police proceed," the bench said, asking the police to get the electornic proof examined.
Earlier, the court had asked Delhi police to record the statement of a person in its premises in connection with the woman lawyer's complaint that an FIR has not been registered in the incident.

Lawyer Ambika Das has alleged that police has not been registering the FIR in an incident in which she was assaulted by cops and henchmen of an influential person on April 4, 2014 at Lajpat Nagar Police Station in South Delhi where she had gone to serve a court order relating to a property dispute.

The report of a DCP, however, had refuted the allegations of the lawyer that she was assaulted at a police station.
The court had treated as petition a letter written to it by the lawyer in which she had narrated the incident.
Taking suo-motu cognizance of the "gravity" of the matter, the court had also directed Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi to look into the complaint filed by the lawyer on April 14 last year and asked the DCP (East) to ensure that "no harm is caused to the advocate".