The Supreme Court of India has intervened in a grave case involving a woman advocate from Noida, directing the central government and the Uttar Pradesh Police to formally respond to her petition. The lawyer has accused personnel at the Sector 126 police station in Noida of subjecting her to sexual assault, molestation, threats of sexual violence, and wrongful detention.
Court's Directive on Evidence Preservation
A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and N V Anjaria heard the plea on Friday, December 20, 2025. The bench took serious note of the allegation that CCTV cameras in the police station were switched off during the incident. To prevent the destruction of potential evidence, the court issued a specific order to the Gautam Buddha Nagar police commissioner. The directive mandates that all existing CCTV footage from the police station must be preserved in a sealed cover and not deleted.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing the petitioner, underscored the severity of the case, stating it reflected a dire state of affairs if such incidents could occur in the National Capital Region. "This is a very gross case happening right around Delhi. If it is happening in Noida, just imagine the plight of the entire country," he argued before the bench.
Allegations of Custodial Violence and Evidence Tampering
The petition details a harrowing sequence of events allegedly starting on the night of December 3. According to the plea, the lawyer was illegally detained for approximately 14 hours. During this custodial period, she claims to have faced sexual assault, torture, and coercion by uniformed officers.
The incident reportedly began when she visited the police station to assist a client in filing a formal complaint. Her client had allegedly been physically assaulted by employees of a news channel. The plea asserts that the lawyer was targeted for insisting on the mandatory registration of an FIR for her injured client.
The allegations escalate further, claiming that a police officer placed a government-issued pistol on her neck to coerce her into surrendering her mobile phone passwords. She was also threatened with being killed in a fake encounter. This coercion, the plea states, led to the deliberate deletion of all video evidence from her and her client's mobile devices.
Connection to a Larger Supreme Court Monitoring Case
During the hearing, the bench initially questioned why the petitioner had directly approached the Supreme Court instead of the Allahabad High Court, as the matter falls under Uttar Pradesh's jurisdiction. Justice Nath remarked that if such petitions were routinely entertained, many from Delhi and surrounding areas would bypass the high court.
However, advocate Singh successfully linked the case to a broader issue the same bench is already monitoring. He reminded the court of its suo motu proceedings regarding non-functional CCTV cameras in Rajasthan police stations. He urged the court to treat the Noida incident as a "test case" to send a strong message nationwide, especially concerning the treatment of a legal professional.
This argument persuaded the bench. Acknowledging the "serious allegations" and the connected issue of CCTV cameras being disabled, the justices agreed to entertain the petition. "Normally, we would not have entertained this case. However, considering the serious allegations... and the fact that the issue also relates to locking of CCTV cameras... we are entertaining this petition," the bench stated.
The court also assured the petitioner's safety, with Justice Nath stating, "they will dare not touch her after" the court's order. While the bench agreed the case could eventually be transferred to the Allahabad High Court, it emphasized the immediate need to secure the CCTV evidence.
The Supreme Court has scheduled the next hearing in this matter for January 7, 2016. When contacted for a comment, a Noida Police officer declined, stating, "The matter is sub-judice. We do not want to comment now."
