State Authorities Must Maintain Anonymity Of Victim In Cases U/S 376 Or POCSO Act: J&K High Court

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the Registry to immediately redact a prosecutrix/victim's name from the identified pages and any other additional pages flagged by the prosecution in a criminal case.

The court ordered that police, forensic science laboratories (FSL), and medical professionals examining the prosecutrix must ensure that the name of the prosecutrix is not to be given and that only the victim's parentage is recorded, without mentioning the full name or address in cases related to offences against women u/s 376 or against children under the POCSO Act.

A bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Justice Puneet Gupta gave the above directions after it was brought to their attention that the name of the prosecutrix (victim) was disclosed on several pages of the appeal memo.

The court, while relying on Vipul Sexana and Others v. Union of India & Others (2019) said that the Union Territory of J&K shall sensitize all organs which are involved in the investigating process with regard to the guidelines cited in the aforementioned judgment of the Supreme Court.

The counsel for the respondent pointed out that the name of the prosecutrix (victim) was disclosed on many pages of the documents relied upon in the charge sheet whose translations have been placed along with the original, which has disclosed the name of the prosecutrix.

The court directed that the name of the prosectrix be immediately redacted and necessary changes be accordingly made in the digital copies as well.

APPEARANCE:

Syed Faisal Qadri, Sr. Advocate with

Mr. Bhat Shafi, Advocate FOR Petitioners

Rahella Khan, Assisting Counsel FOR Respondent.

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