KOCHI: In a response to an alleged custodial harassment incident involving a pregnant woman and her husband who were reportedly summoned and verbally abused despite her fragile state, the High Court directed the police to produce CCTV footage from the police station concerned.
The directive came while considering a petition filed by a couple, Shilji Noel, 36, of Kumbalangi, and Noel, 36, of Palluruthy — both teachers employed in Rajasthan, who approached the court with a writ petition alleging police harassment.
“The court directed the state government to produce the CCTV footage from the station, specifically covering the period during which the petitioners were present there,” said Gautham Krishna E J, counsel for the petitioners.
Shilji, who was in a critical stage of a high-risk pregnancy, had allegedly been subjected to relentless harassment and life-threatening acts by her sister-in-law and her sister, which had earlier led to a miscarriage. When the couple approached the Palluruthy station to lodge a complaint, officials reportedly dismissed it as a “family dispute,” refused to register an FIR, and made her wait for over three hours to obtain an acknowledgement receipt.
“The couple was summoned to the station on February 13, 2026, around 10.30am. While an officer named Biju was hearing their grievance, another officer, Ajmal, allegedly intervened aggressively and accused the petitioner of filing the complaint to grab family assets. He then threatened to put both petitioners in the lockup and forced the woman to sign a document, the contents of which she was unaware,” the counsel added.
The petition, accessed by TNIE, also states that Shilji and Noel were married in 2024, and that it was Shilji’s second marriage. From the outset, her sister-in-law and her own sister allegedly opposed the union and spread false claims that she was infertile.When she conceived, the harassment allegedly escalated into physical acts, with the accused attempting to induce a miscarriage.