Delhi High Court Rejects Plea to Remove Officer From Probe, Stresses Need for Fairness
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition seeking to remove Additional DCP (North-East) Sandeep Lamba from supervising a court-directed police inquiry, saying allegations against an officer alone cannot be treated as proof of bias without due process.
Justice Girish Kathpalia observed that while any misconduct by the officer must be dealt with according to the law, it would be unfair to presume guilt before a proper investigation and trial.
“You have to be fair. Stop discrediting the institution. If the officer has done something wrong, he should face the consequences. But that does not mean all work under his supervision should automatically be taken away,” the judge remarked during the hearing.
The petition was filed after videos allegedly showing Lamba slapping a woman during the recent “Chalo Jantar Mantar” protest went viral. The petitioner argued that the incident raised reasonable concerns about the officer’s impartiality in overseeing the police inquiry.
Questioning the argument, Justice Kathpalia asked whether such allegations meant the entire Delhi Police force should be considered biased or prevented from carrying out its duties.
During the hearing, the Additional Solicitor General, representing Delhi Police, informed the court that the inquiry had already been completed, the petitioner’s statement had been recorded, and the report had been submitted to the competent authority for further action.
Taking note of this, the High Court ruled that the petition had become infructuous and dismissed it.
Even after the order was pronounced, the petitioner’s counsel urged the court to consider later developments involving Lamba, saying they further strengthened concerns over bias. However, the court declined the request.
Justice Kathpalia said that even if the officer is eventually found guilty in another matter, it cannot be assumed that he would act unfairly in every case. Transferring the inquiry on that basis, the judge added, would effectively amount to declaring him guilty before a fair trial.
The petitioner had requested that the Commissioner of Police transfer the inquiry from Lamba’s administrative supervision to a Deputy Commissioner of Police posted outside North-East Delhi. She argued that the controversy surrounding the officer had affected public confidence in the fairness of the investigation.
The case is linked to an earlier petition in which the woman alleged she was illegally detained at Jafrabad Police Station on the night of March 24–25, 2025. The High Court had ordered a police inquiry into her allegations.
Later, the petitioner challenged the manner in which the inquiry was conducted, claiming it was initially completed without recording her statement or examining key aspects of her complaint. After the High Court directed police to record her statement before finalising the inquiry, she filed the present plea seeking a change in supervisory authority.
News source: Information for this article was gathered from a variety of reliable news outlets.
