The Home Ministry is likely to accept Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's demand for an inquiry into a magistrate's allegation that senior Delhi police officers tried to interfere with the crucial process of recording the statement of the 23-year-old medical student who was gang-raped on a moving bus in Delhi last week, sources have said.
Ms Dikshit has written to Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde about a complaint filed by the sub divisional magistrate or SDM of Vasant Vihar, Usha Chaturvedi, who recorded the student's statement in hospital on Friday night. The judge claims that three police officers, who she has named, tried to dissuade the young woman's mother from letting her record her statement on camera. Police sources have countered the magistrate, saying it was not them, but the student's mother, who did not want the 23-year-old's testimony to be video-taped.
The Delhi Chief Minister has, in her letter to Mr Shinde, described the judge's complaint as "alarming and serious." Sources said the home ministry is taking the complaint "very seriously" and is likely to set up a committee headed by a woman to look into it.
Police sources have strongly refuted the allegations of the magistrate, who has accused the cops of misbehaving with her and trying to intimidate her. She has, however, not questioned the contents of the statement, or suggested that it was influenced by the police officers' alleged actions.
Police sources claim that the officials had merely asked the SDM not to push the young woman beyond what she could physically endure. The student is in critical condition. The police sources allege that while questioning her, the judge asked the victim to describe the horrific assault on her in minute detail, despite the girl's fragile health.
Police sources also said that that the three officers named by the magistrate were not in the hospital room when the student shared her account of the attack and that the magistrate was free to ask the student any questions she wanted.
Senior police sources said that if required, they will help facilitate a fresh recording of the statement.
The girl's statement will be used in the trial of the six men arrested for the gang-rape.
The magistrate's complaint was forwarded to the Chief Minister by BM Mishra, who is Deputy Commissioner, East. Mr Mishra has reportedly sought stern action against the police officers.
The heinous attack has incensed India with thousands of protestors, many of them students, demanding stricter anti-rape laws and better safety for women in Delhi. Mrs Dikshit has been sharply critical of the police's handling of the case.
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