Name and identity of victims of rape and sexual assault, including those who have died, cannot be disclosed ‘even in a remote manner’, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday while terming as unfortunate that instead of empathising with the victims, society treats them as “untouchable”.
The court also said that nobody can have any objection to the victim disclosing her name as long as she is a major and has taken a decision regarding this voluntarily. The apex court said that media should be cautious not to ‘sensationalise’ such cases and though they have an obligation to report such matters, they are also “duty bound” not to disclose the identity of such victims, including minors.
A bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta directed that FIRs lodged for the offence of rape under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act shall not be put in public domain.
“No person can print or publish in print, electronic, social media, etc the name of the victim or even in a remote manner disclose any facts which can lead to the victim being identified and which should make her identity known to the public at large,” the bench said.
The court said that in the society, an “innocent” victim of sexual offence, especially rape, was unfortunately treated worse than the perpetrator of crime and “for no fault of the victim, society instead of empathising with the victim, starts treating her as an ‘untouchable’”.
“A victim of rape is treated like a ‘pariah’ and ostracised from society. Many times, even her family refuses to accept her back into their fold. The harsh reality is that many times cases of rape do not even get reported because of the false notions of so called ‘honour’ which the family of the victim wants to uphold,” the bench said.
It said in cases where the victim is dead or of unsound mind, her name and identity should not be disclosed even under authorisation of next of the kin unless circumstances justifying the disclosure of her identity exist, which shall be decided by competent authority, that is the sessions judge.
“The police officials should keep all the documents in which the name of the victim is disclosed, as far as possible, in a sealed cover and replace these documents by identical documents in which the name of the victim is removed in all records which may be scrutinised in the public domain,” it said.
Regarding media, the court said they should refrain from talking to such victim because every time the victim repeats the tale of misery, she again undergoes the trauma.
“Reportage of such cases should be done sensitively keeping the best interest of the victims, both adult and children, in mind. Sensationalising such cases may garner Television Rating Points (TRPs) but does no credit to the credibility of the media,” it said.