Supreme Court Issues Notice on Woman Advocate’s Plea Alleging Illegal Detention and Custodial Sexual Assault

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Central government on a writ petition filed by a woman advocate, who has alleged that she was illegally detained for nearly 14 hours by the Noida Police and subjected to custodial sexual assault, torture and threats while performing her professional duties.

A Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice N.V. Anjaria issued notice in the matter, returnable on January 7, 2026. The petition alleges violation of the advocate’s fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19(1)(g), 21 and 22 of the Constitution.

According to the petition, the advocate was detained overnight at Police Station Noida Sector 126 on December 3, 2025, when she had gone there in her professional capacity to assist her client. Her client had suffered serious head injuries and was seeking registration of an FIR, supported by a medico-legal certificate. Despite this, the police allegedly refused to register the FIR.

The advocate has alleged that instead of performing their duty, the police officials showed undue favour and respect to employees of a media organisation against whom the complaint was being made, suggesting collusion and misuse of authority.

The plea states that the advocate was unlawfully detained from around 12.30 am on December 4 till about 2.00 pm the same day. During this period, no arrest memo was prepared, no judicial permission was obtained, and mandatory safeguards under the Code of Criminal Procedure were not followed. The detention allegedly violated Section 46(4) of the CrPC, which restricts the arrest of women at night without prior approval of a magistrate, along with the guidelines laid down in DK Basu v. State of West Bengal and Sheela Barse v. State of Maharashtra.

The petition further alleges that during her illegal custody, male police personnel physically assaulted her, made sexually coloured remarks, attempted to disrobe her and committed acts amounting to custodial sexual assault. These actions are stated to attract offences under Sections 74 and 76 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deal with outraging modesty and assault with intent to disrobe.

It is also alleged that the police threatened her with death and a fake encounter by placing a government-issued pistol on her neck. The advocate claims she was denied food, water, legal assistance and contact with her family throughout the detention.

Additionally, the plea states that police officials forcibly obtained her mobile phone passwords, deleted videos and digital evidence from her phone and her client’s device, and disabled or removed CCTV cameras at the police station. This, the petition argues, violates the Supreme Court’s directions in Paramvir Singh Saini v. Baljit Singh on mandatory CCTV installation and preservation in police stations.

After her release, the advocate approached senior police officers and the National Human Rights Commission. The NHRC reportedly registered the complaint under the category of custodial violence by police. However, no FIR has been registered so far, and the petition alleges that the concerned police officers continue to threaten her with false cases.

The plea highlights the need for nationwide guidelines to ensure the safety and dignity of women advocates. It argues that the incident reflects a serious institutional failure and calls for preventive and systemic measures under Article 32, which would have binding force under Article 141.

The petition seeks directions for registration of an FIR against the accused police officials, transfer of investigation to an independent agency such as a Special Investigation Team or the CBI, initiation of disciplinary proceedings against erring officers, and protection for the petitioner.

The case has been filed as W.P. (Crl.) No. 529 of 2025, titled X v. Union of India.