Sexual assault survivors retraumatised each time they have to visit police station: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday said that a system needs to be put in place to ensure that sexual assault survivors are not re-traumatised by repeatedly having to visit police stations..Justice Devan Ramachandran observed that sexual offences leave the survivors with multiple forms of trauma, regardless of their age or gender but that the process of dealing with trauma varies from person to person."In the case of sexual assault victims, there is a lot of psychological trauma which happens immediately after the event, coupled with the physical trauma. After the victim goes through the trauma, she or he - I am making this gender neutral, it's not necessary that it is always a lady, it could be man, woman, child, anyone - has to go to the police station.... We are re-traumatising the victim every time they have to go to the police station. There are people who contemplate taking their own lives due to this. Not everyone has a good support system. Every brain doesn't work the same way. Some people take more time than others to get over their trauma," he said.The Court, therefore, called for suggestions from the Bar on how to better support survivors of sexual offences..The judge also mused whether the protocol defined in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act can be followed for other sexual assault cases."The honourable Supreme Court has also recently spoken about the vulnerable victims' protocol. It is a great step in the right direction. Here, I want to see how a person can register a complaint and give statements including under Section 164 of CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) only from the place of their choice. In POCSO cases, there are definite directions for this and I think we can follow the same principles for all sexual assault cases as well," he said..The Court's observations came while hearing a case where a survivor, represented by advocate Dheeraj, approached the Court alleging that after she had approached the police, she has been facing harassment from the accused as well as the police officers. She said that she had to go to the police station again for permission to medically terminate the pregnancy that resulted from the assault..At a previous hearing, the Court had called for an overhaul of the victim protection system for sexual-assault survivors especially in light of the fact that most survivors are forced to approach the Court seeking police protection, when the same should be afforded to them at the first instance. It had asked members of the Bar to put forth any suggestions they might have in this regard which led to the discussion today. Senior Advocate VP Seemandini added to the discussion today from her personal experience as a member of the International Federation of Women Lawyers. "I find that Kerala is actually quite novel in this area. Our High Court formed a Victims' Rights Centre...I have researched some international treaties on this point, we will assist (the court). I have been in this field for many years but only now do I feel like I can do anything and it's mostly due to your lordship's and Justice Mustaque's interest in the matter", she said. The matter will be taken up again on February 4.