By IANS
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Monday directed Delhi Police to furnish the evidence collected against Uma Khurana, the teacher in a government-run school framed in a fake sting operation by a private TV channel that alleged she was forcing schoolgirls into the flesh trade.
The police have found no evidence against the teacher, who was granted bail by a local court Monday.
A high court bench headed by Chief Justice M.K. Sarma also asked the Delhi government to consider reviewing its decision to sack Khurana by reinstating her in the light of evidence collected so far by the police.
“We would like to see the case diary on Wednesday to look into the evidence collected against her,” the bench said asking the police counsel to produce all the documents relating to the case.
Counsel Mukta Gupta appearing for police submitted that the investigation into the case was still on and it could not be concluded that the schoolteacher was completely innocent.
“The evidence showed her involvement in certain parts of the sting operation aired on a private TV channel,” said Gupta.
On Sep 7, the high court had issued notices to the government and police after taking notice of media reports that the sting operation was fake and distorted.
The purported sting operation aired by Live India, a private TV news channel, claimed to show Khurana, a 40-year-old teacher with the Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya on Asaf Ali Road in central Delhi, forcing many of her girl students into prostitution and pornography.
Following the telecast a crowd attacked the school and manhandled the teacher, who was dismissed by the state government Sep 1. She was arrested the next day.
A week later, it was discovered that the operation was a hoax as a woman, depicted as a schoolgirl whose services were shown being offered by the teacher to a decoy customer, was in fact not a student but an aspiring journalist.
Prakash Singh, the journalist behind the fake sting operation, was arrested last week and booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including those related to cheating and criminal conspiracy.