NEW DELHI: The 23-year-old bus rape victim, named Nirbhaya by TOI, was made to record her statement again at Safdarjung Hospital on Tuesday, drawing objections from the medical fraternity on the need for a second statement when the first, recorded by an SDM, was not challenged. Police said the step was necessary as they did not wish to get into a legal tussle later.

A senior police official said, "We came to know about SDM Usha Chaturvedi 's charges of pressure from police on Monday night, three days after she recorded the victim's statement. So, on Tuesday morning, we moved an application for doctors' permission to record the victim's statement again''. A team of psychiatrists analyzed the woman's condition before granting permission.

Sources said the decision to record another statement was taken within hours of chief minister Sheila Dikshit complaining about police "influence" during the recording of the first statement, and was prompted by the victim's deteriorating health.

"We met our legal advisers at night and discussed the next step. If tomorrow the statement is challenged (on the ground of interference by police) and the trial is affected, we will be pulled up. We could not have asked for a judicial statement under section 164 of CrPC until the SDM took the statement under CrPC section 161, or the magistrate would have asked her to produce the victim in court. We informed the magistrate the victim cannot be brought before the court and her statement may be recorded in hospital,'' said the officer.

The second statement was recorded by a metropolitan magistrate. "This is a legal procedure: a victim would have to give her statement before a judicial magistrate under CrPC section 164 and now this statement will be admissible in court," said police commissioner Neeraj Kumar .