The city police faced the ire of the Delhi high court on Friday for failing to provide, despite the court’s specific instruction, details of the police officials who were on patrolling duty along the route taken by the private chartered bus in which a 23-year-old woman was gangraped and brutally assaulted on December 16.
A bench headed by Chief Justice D. Murugesan came down upon police commissioner Neeraj Kumar for being “evasive” in the report sought by the court and shielding its officials. “Action needs to be taken against the erring officials. In our (earlier) order, we had directed the police commissioner to give details of the officials who were on duty for patrolling in the area (on December 16 evening). We have gone through the report. No such details are present in it. We will write in our order that a comprehensive report is not filed,” said the bench, also comprising Justice R.S. Endlaw.
Delhi Police counsel Najmi Waziri, however, told the court that rather than such details, the investigation into the case is more significant. “Our primary focus right now is on the investigation in the case. Though, I agree that more details should have come before the court,” the counsel said. The bench, expressing its disappointment, said, “This is an evasive report. You have not given any detail of police officers who were on duty. We make it clear that a report, giving all the details, be filed without any delay.”
The high court had on December 19 taken suo moto cognisance of the brazen incident and had decided to monitor the probe in it. The court had directed the city police to file by Friday a report stating the safety measures that have been in place in the city to prevent such crimes.
The Delhi high court on Friday expressed anguish at the dismal state of the forensic science laboratory (FSL) of the city police here, saying lack of efficiency of the lab resulted in piling up of court cases in which evidence needs to be examined forensically.