A petition has been filed before the Kerala High Court seeking legal action against a Magistrate for revealing the name of a rape survivor in an order. .The petition was moved by the survivor seeking action against the Judicial First Class Magistrate, Kattakkada. When the petition came up before Justice Devan Ramachandran today, the Court directed the Magistrate's Court to immediately anonymise the survivor's name and other details. "As an interim measure and to ensure that the privacy of the petitioner, who is a lady, is not subject to any further breach, I direct the Court of the Magistrate to ensure that all documents and the judgments are immediately anonymised qua her name and identity...all the judgments already released will be called for to be returned and then anonymised in terms," the order stated..The petitioner in this case is the survivor in a rape case in which the accused is a Circle Inspector of Police, one Saiju AV.The survivor had approached the Magistrate Court to cancel the bail granted to Saiju. The Magistrate passed an order refusing to cancel the bail and in that order, her identity was revealed. The survivor challenged the order before the High Court and while the plea is pending, she noticed that the website of the High Court too revealed her name..The revelation of her identity in the order of the Magistrate prompted her to approach the High Court arguing that the same is a violation of the judgment of the Supreme Court in Nipun Saxena & Anr. v Union of India & Ors. which laid down guidelines to protect the identities of victims of rape. .It was alleged in her petition that the accused-police officer influenced the magistrate to reveal her identity in the order. She argued that it has led to a loss of reputation and has detrimentally affected her career as a dental doctor. "It is evident that the revelation in Ext.P1 has been designedly and calculatedly published with the underlying mischief of harassing the petitioner from withdrawing the prosecution and as a result, the beneficiaries of such revelation succeeded by damaging the reputation and image of the petitioner. The said revelation has caused immeasurable mental as well as physical agonies to the petitioner and lowered down the reputation of the petitioner in the society, amongst acquaintances, friends, relations and general public and the petitioner has to face social ostracism because of the illegal act," the petition stated. .It was also argued specifically that the explanation under Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code, which exempts publication of judgments of High Courts and the Supreme Court from the penalty for disclosing the identity of rape survivors or victims, does not offer the same exemption to magistrate courts..Therefore, the petitioner sought directions to the Registrar (District Judiciary) and the Registrar General of the High Court to initiate appropriate legal proceedings against the magistrate who issued the order that revealed her identity. She also sought orders to mask her name and address in the magistrate's order as well as the website of the High Court..The petitioner was represented by advocates V Sethunath, VR Manoranjan, Thomas Abraham, Sreeganesh U and Lakshminarayanan R. .[Read Order]
A petition has been filed before the Kerala High Court seeking legal action against a Magistrate for revealing the name of a rape survivor in an order. .The petition was moved by the survivor seeking action against the Judicial First Class Magistrate, Kattakkada. When the petition came up before Justice Devan Ramachandran today, the Court directed the Magistrate's Court to immediately anonymise the survivor's name and other details. "As an interim measure and to ensure that the privacy of the petitioner, who is a lady, is not subject to any further breach, I direct the Court of the Magistrate to ensure that all documents and the judgments are immediately anonymised qua her name and identity...all the judgments already released will be called for to be returned and then anonymised in terms," the order stated..The petitioner in this case is the survivor in a rape case in which the accused is a Circle Inspector of Police, one Saiju AV.The survivor had approached the Magistrate Court to cancel the bail granted to Saiju. The Magistrate passed an order refusing to cancel the bail and in that order, her identity was revealed. The survivor challenged the order before the High Court and while the plea is pending, she noticed that the website of the High Court too revealed her name..The revelation of her identity in the order of the Magistrate prompted her to approach the High Court arguing that the same is a violation of the judgment of the Supreme Court in Nipun Saxena & Anr. v Union of India & Ors. which laid down guidelines to protect the identities of victims of rape. .It was alleged in her petition that the accused-police officer influenced the magistrate to reveal her identity in the order. She argued that it has led to a loss of reputation and has detrimentally affected her career as a dental doctor. "It is evident that the revelation in Ext.P1 has been designedly and calculatedly published with the underlying mischief of harassing the petitioner from withdrawing the prosecution and as a result, the beneficiaries of such revelation succeeded by damaging the reputation and image of the petitioner. The said revelation has caused immeasurable mental as well as physical agonies to the petitioner and lowered down the reputation of the petitioner in the society, amongst acquaintances, friends, relations and general public and the petitioner has to face social ostracism because of the illegal act," the petition stated. .It was also argued specifically that the explanation under Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code, which exempts publication of judgments of High Courts and the Supreme Court from the penalty for disclosing the identity of rape survivors or victims, does not offer the same exemption to magistrate courts..Therefore, the petitioner sought directions to the Registrar (District Judiciary) and the Registrar General of the High Court to initiate appropriate legal proceedings against the magistrate who issued the order that revealed her identity. She also sought orders to mask her name and address in the magistrate's order as well as the website of the High Court..The petitioner was represented by advocates V Sethunath, VR Manoranjan, Thomas Abraham, Sreeganesh U and Lakshminarayanan R. .[Read Order]
