In a crucial development in the ongoing legal battle involving harassment allegations made by a woman IAS officer against a senior IPS officer, the Delhi High Court has ordered the preservation of all relevant digital records. The directive comes as part of the officer’s challenge to a lower court’s acceptance of the police’s closure report in the case.
Court Directs Preservation of Key Digital Evidence
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, while hearing the plea, stressed the importance of preserving digital data for ensuring fairness and enabling future judicial scrutiny. The court ordered the Delhi Police to secure the following digital records related to the case:
- IPDRs (Internet Protocol Detail Records)
- CDRs (Call Detail Records)
- Mobile tower location data
- Landline and mobile usage logs
- Wi-Fi logs
This data must be preserved for the period between July 2023 and September 2023 and applies to both the accused IPS officer and investigating officers involved in the case.
Justice Sharma clarified that this order is solely for evidence preservation and does not reflect on the merits of the case. The authenticity, admissibility, and relevance of the records will be determined at a later stage.
Background: Closure Report Challenged
The case stems from an incident reported in October 2023, when the woman IAS officer filed an FIR alleging harassment by the IPS officer. However, a magistrate’s court later accepted the Delhi Police’s cancellation report, noting that the complainant had omitted a key detail: a call made to the accused officer on October 17, 2023, just a day before the FIR was registered.
The IAS officer later explained that the call was made by her husband using her phone to confront the IPS officer.
Following the lower court’s acceptance of the closure report, the officer moved the Delhi High Court, which has now issued this preservation order as the matter continues to be litigated.