The Supreme Court today took suo motu cognizance of the alleged sexual abuse of minor inmates in the shelter homes in Muzaffarpur, Bihar..A Bench of Justice Madan Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta took cognizance of this “deeply disturbing” case after receiving a letter in this regard from a man from Patna..Saying that they are “extremely disturbed” after receiving the letter, the Court has issued notice to the Centre, the State of Bihar, and the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The Court has also sought assistance from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) given that it was a report by a team from TISS that was responsible for unearthing this horror..In light of news reports and interviews of victims carried by media organisations, the Court was particularly concerned about subjecting the victims of such a crime to multiple interviews, interrogations and effectively making them relive the trauma..“It has been repeatedly said by this Court that a victim of a sexual offence should not be made to relive the trauma of the incident. In this case, the victims were made to go through it again and again“, observed Justice Lokur..Noting a rather disturbing trend prevalent in the media, particularly the electronic media, while handling reportage of sensitive issues like this, Justice Lokur said,.“Everyone wants to be the first one to get the news. There will be ten cameras that will come.“.Justice Lokur opined that the media should exercise restraint in its reportage, especially while dealing with and interviewing children who have been victims of sexual offences. Taking objection to the normalising language used by reporters, Justice Lokur said,.“How you talk to a child is different from how you talk to an adult. There are instances when issues like rape are spoken of in a casual manner. Why should a child be interviewed at all? Will the interviewer or the person holding the camera appear in the witness box? Never.“.The Amicus Curiae in this case, Aparna Bhat, proposed that while news reports can be carried, media should refrain from interviewing victims. Justice Lokur immediately remarked,.“Then the media will come and say what about our freedom of expression.“.However, on the point of a victim’s right to anonymity, the Court, the Amicus and ASG Tushar Mehta were all on the same page, agreeing that the identity of the victims cannot be divulged by the media..In addition to issuing notice, the Court has also made a request to the media to exercise restraint while reporting this case and asked the electronic media to not telecast any images of the victims, even in morphed or blurred form..Bhat requested the court to issue notice to the Press Council of India (PCI) as well but the Court refused, noting that the electronic media did not come under the control of the PCI..The Court has also said that the victims, in this case, should not be interviewed by anyone except the investigating agencies in conformity with the requirements prescribed in the POCSO Act..The court will hear this case next on Tuesday, August 7..A social audit conducted by a team from TISS had unearthed mass sexual exploitation among minor inmates of short stay homes and shelters in Bihar. Among them, close to 30 minor girls in a Muzaffarpur shelter home are reported to have suffered sexual abuse..Whereas an FIR had been registered based on the TISS report in May, the Central Bureau of Investigation recently took over the case on the request of the state. It is reported that over ten arrests have been made so far, including the District Child Protection officer, caretaker of the shelter, Brajesh Thakur and a Child Welfare Committee member.
The Supreme Court today took suo motu cognizance of the alleged sexual abuse of minor inmates in the shelter homes in Muzaffarpur, Bihar..A Bench of Justice Madan Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta took cognizance of this “deeply disturbing” case after receiving a letter in this regard from a man from Patna..Saying that they are “extremely disturbed” after receiving the letter, the Court has issued notice to the Centre, the State of Bihar, and the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The Court has also sought assistance from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) given that it was a report by a team from TISS that was responsible for unearthing this horror..In light of news reports and interviews of victims carried by media organisations, the Court was particularly concerned about subjecting the victims of such a crime to multiple interviews, interrogations and effectively making them relive the trauma..“It has been repeatedly said by this Court that a victim of a sexual offence should not be made to relive the trauma of the incident. In this case, the victims were made to go through it again and again“, observed Justice Lokur..Noting a rather disturbing trend prevalent in the media, particularly the electronic media, while handling reportage of sensitive issues like this, Justice Lokur said,.“Everyone wants to be the first one to get the news. There will be ten cameras that will come.“.Justice Lokur opined that the media should exercise restraint in its reportage, especially while dealing with and interviewing children who have been victims of sexual offences. Taking objection to the normalising language used by reporters, Justice Lokur said,.“How you talk to a child is different from how you talk to an adult. There are instances when issues like rape are spoken of in a casual manner. Why should a child be interviewed at all? Will the interviewer or the person holding the camera appear in the witness box? Never.“.The Amicus Curiae in this case, Aparna Bhat, proposed that while news reports can be carried, media should refrain from interviewing victims. Justice Lokur immediately remarked,.“Then the media will come and say what about our freedom of expression.“.However, on the point of a victim’s right to anonymity, the Court, the Amicus and ASG Tushar Mehta were all on the same page, agreeing that the identity of the victims cannot be divulged by the media..In addition to issuing notice, the Court has also made a request to the media to exercise restraint while reporting this case and asked the electronic media to not telecast any images of the victims, even in morphed or blurred form..Bhat requested the court to issue notice to the Press Council of India (PCI) as well but the Court refused, noting that the electronic media did not come under the control of the PCI..The Court has also said that the victims, in this case, should not be interviewed by anyone except the investigating agencies in conformity with the requirements prescribed in the POCSO Act..The court will hear this case next on Tuesday, August 7..A social audit conducted by a team from TISS had unearthed mass sexual exploitation among minor inmates of short stay homes and shelters in Bihar. Among them, close to 30 minor girls in a Muzaffarpur shelter home are reported to have suffered sexual abuse..Whereas an FIR had been registered based on the TISS report in May, the Central Bureau of Investigation recently took over the case on the request of the state. It is reported that over ten arrests have been made so far, including the District Child Protection officer, caretaker of the shelter, Brajesh Thakur and a Child Welfare Committee member.
