Vinay Sharma, one of the accused in the reprehensible December 16 gang-rape case, has suffered a fracture in his right hand.
His counsel AP Singh created quite a scene in Saket Courts on Friday and alleged that his client was beaten by the inmates of Tihar.
AP Singh said that Sharma's right hand was broken in order to prevent him from appearing in a competitive recruitment examination being conducted by the Indian Air Force (IAF).
However, the Tihar administration was quick to trash the allegations and said that Sharma had tripped while travelling in the jail bus and was immediately taken to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital for treatment.
Sunil Gupta, legal Officer and spokesperson, Delhi Prisons, stoutly defended the jail administration and said: "Sharma himself stated before the doctor that his broken hand was the result of a fall he suffered while travelling in the jail bus. He was neither beaten nor roughed up by jail inmates.
"After the unfortunate incident of Ram Singh's suicide in Jail No 3, all the remaining accused have been shifted to Jail No 7 and 4 respectively.
"Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur are lodged in Jail No 7 while Pavan Gupta and Mukesh Singh, the younger brother of Ram Singh are housed in Jail No 4. There is round-the-clock CCTV surveillance in and around their barracks and additional security has been deployed to secure all the four accused. The allegation that Sharma was beaten up inside the jail premises is nothing but a bundle of lies."
In a related development, Sharma's lawyer moved a special court for interim bail of the accused as he wanted to appear for the clerical grade examination held by the Indian Air Force scheduled for April 7. The counsel said that his client was threatened by jail inmates who said they would break his right hand to prevent him from writing the entrance examination.
It would be pertinent to mention here that another accused Akshay Thakur had also alleged that he was manhandled and beaten up by his cellmates.
Thakur had said that he was constantly receiving threats from a Delhi Police constable and needed protection.
The counsel for Thakur and Sharma moved an application before the Special Judge at Saket Courts for shifting his clients to some other prison as their lives were in danger in Tihar.
The defence counsel also requested the court to summon the Superintendent of Jail No 7 lokesh Sharma and this was seconded by the special public prosecutor Daya Krishnan."It troubles me greatly. It is my duty to ensure a fair trial. I am also disturbed (with the incident)," Krishnan submitted before the court.
The court has directed lokesh Sharma to be personally present in the court on Saturday to explain how Vinay Sharma fractured his hand and if any action had been taken on his allegations that he had been beaten up.