A Delhi court has directed the Tihar Jail authorities to take immediate steps to ensure the safety of Aftab Amin Poonawala, accused of murdering his live-in partner Shraddha Vikas Walkar in 2022, inside his prison cell, after he alleged that he had received death threats from fellow inmates.
Additional Sessions Judge Hargurvarinder Singh Jaggi of Saket courts gave the directions after Poonawala, who had allegedly strangled Walkar in a fit of rage following an argument and purportedly chopped her body into pieces on May 18, 2022, told the court that he had been receiving threats from inmates for the past few days.
The judge also asked the jail authorities to consider shifting Poonawala to a different ward or cell, if need be, after he alleged that some inmates had repeatedly threatened him for the past 10 days, saying they would slash his face with “improvised weapons” and cause him bodily harm. “The accused submits that for the past 10 days, few of the inmates have repeatedly imparted death threats, to cause bodily harm to him that they will slash his face with improvised weapons, sua (needle),” the court said in its order passed on Monday. Poonawala, the court said, disclosed the names of five such inmates in his submissions. “In view of the submissions made by accused Aftab Amin Poonawala, the Court deems fit to direct the concerned jail superintendent to take immediate steps to ensure safety and security of the accused,” the order said. The court added that “if required, the accused may be kept in a separate ward or cell away from the notorious inmates”. The judge observed, “Needless to remind the jail superintendent and all the concerned authorities that the safety of an undertrial prisoner is a top priority and one of the hallmark principles of the criminal justice system”.
