Shraddha Walkar murder: Delhi High Court orders accused to be let out of solitary confinement for 8 hours a day

The Delhi High Court on Friday ordered the Tihar jail authorities to let Shraddha Walkar murder case accused, Aaftab Poonawalla out of solitary confinement for eight hours a day during daylight hours as per the jail rules. .Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Girish Kathpalia passed the order while hearing a habeas corpus plea filed by Poonawalla. The Court added that considering the threat perception to Poonawalla, he should be locked back in his cell at night. .Poonawalla moved the Court arguing that under the garb of protecting him from security threats, jail authorities were keeping him in solitary confinement for 22 hours a day. Advocate Akshay Bhandari appeared for Poonawalla and told the Court that even though other such inmates were unlocked for eight hours a day, Poonawalla was being let out only for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. He added that he has been in solitary confinement since March 2023 even though he has not committed any offence in jail..Delhi government's Standing Counsel (Criminal) Sanjay Lao appeared for the Tihar authorities and said that Poonawalla was being kept in security prison because of the threat perception to him. Lao said that Poonawalla was attacked while he was being taken to a forensic lab and that the trial court had ordered that he be provided security. .The Court considered the submissions and recorded that since it is Poonawalla's own request that he be let out of solitary confinement, he should be unlocked for eight hours a day. .Poonawalla has been charged with the murder of his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar. Charges have also been framed against him for offence under Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for causing disappearance of evidence..Poonawalla and Walkar had entered into a live-in relationship after meeting on mobile dating app, Bumble. They were initially based out of Mumbai before shifting to Delhi in 2022. According to police investigating Poonawalla killed Walkar on May 18, 2022 after he fought with her at a flat in Mehrauli. It is alleged that he strangulated the Walkar, chopped her body into 35 pieces, stored it in a fridge and later dumped the pieces in different parts of the city over the next 18 days.Poonawalla was first sent to police custody and was later remanded to judicial custody.The Delhi High Court had, in November last year, dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking the transfer of the investigation in the case from the Delhi Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).