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ShareRAJKOT: A court here has ordered police to provide protection to Puja Chauhan, who created a flutter by walking semi-nude on the city's streets to protllowed to continue staying in her rented accommodation. Chauhan's landlord had asked her to vacate the home after her controversial protest.
The Gandhigram police station here has received a copy of the order issued on Saturday by Judicial Magistrate R M Bhatt, who directed police to provide necessary protection to Chauhan.
But police said they had been unable to trace Chauhan. "After the court's order, we went to Puja's rented house in Shastrinagar but we found it locked," Inspector Sardarsinh Zala said.
The court's order directed her landlord in Shastrinagar, where Chauhan has been staying for the past year with her three-year-old daughter, not to ask her to vacate the house.
The court also summoned four accused -- her husband Pratap Chauhan, mother-in-law Hansa Chauhan and two neighbours -- to appear before it on July 10.
However the four are suspected to have left the city following Chauhan's protest, Zala said.
According to collectorate officials, the district authorities have asked Police Commissioner K Nityanandam to submit a report on the alleged delay in taking action against the four accused.
Chauhan has claimed she decided to protest in a semi-nude condition on July 3 after police failed to act on her complaint that her husband and mother-in-law were torturing and beating her for dowry.
Earlier, the NHRC served notice to the Commissioner, seeking a reply from him within seven days while the Centre has formed an inquiry panel headed by Malini Bhattacharya to probe the matter.
A team from the National Women's Commission is likely to visit Rajkot in the next few days to examine Chauhan's case, sources said.
