Madras High Court has ordered Tamil Nadu police not to reveal victims’ identities in sexual offence cases, including in FIRs. Strict action and contempt proceedings warned for violations.
Chennai: Today, on June 20, the Madras High Court has strongly directed the Tamil Nadu Police to make sure that the identity of victims in sexual offence cases is not revealed in any case documents, including First Information Reports (FIRs).
This came after the Court found that a rape survivor’s name was wrongly mentioned in an FIR.
Justice P Velmurugan gave this strict order on June 19, while hearing a case related to rape and sexual harassment.
The judge stated that if such mistakes happen again, the Court will take serious action against the police officers responsible, including starting suo motu contempt proceedings.
“The Director General of Police and the Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai are directed to give strict instructions to all the Investigating Officers that the offences under certain sections as enunciated under the law and by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, especially, the sexual offences against children and women, the identification of the child/victim should not be revealed in any form and if any deviation is found, the entire police department would be held responsible and the Court will take stringent action by way of initiating suo motu contempt,”
The judge reminded the police that Indian law itself strictly says that the identity of rape victims should never be made public.
He also said that the Supreme Court has already given clear directions on this issue, but police officers are still not following the law properly
“Further the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has clearly given directions that the identifications of the victims of rape and sexual offences should not be revealed in any form. But the Investigating Officers are not following neither the law nor the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court,”
This observation came during the hearing of a petition filed by a man who is facing charges of rape and sexual harassment.
The accused had requested the High Court to ask the police to file the chargesheet quickly.
During the hearing on June 19, the police told the Court that their investigation was complete and the chargesheet had been filed.
After hearing this, the Court closed the petition. However, it also gave an immediate direction to the police.
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The Court said that the name of the victim should be removed at once from the FIR and from all other records and statements where it may have been wrongly mentioned.
Advocate Rahul Jagannathan appeared for the accused-petitioner, while Government Advocate (Criminal Side) Dr. C.E. Pratap represented the State.
Case Title:
Sakthivel Ganesan v. Inspector of Police
Read Judgement:
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