SC Issues Notice On Plea For Protection Of Identity Of Accused In Sexual Crimes

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a plea seeking the protection of identity, reputation & integrity of individuals, allegedly accused of "Sexual Offences", till completion of the investigation into the "truthfulness" of such allegations. 

The bench headed by Justice S. A. Bobde was hearing the petitions filed by the Youth Bar Association and Advocate Reepak Kansal.

The petitioner-organisation says that due to the fast-changing nature of the society and easy access to the social media, people nowadays jump into their own conclusion based on news without exercising independent and critical analysis.

Petition says further that as far as the protection of "integrity" in the modern times goes, protection is lent only to the "victim" and not the "accused", who might have been falsely or maliciously implicated and same goes against the well-settled principle of criminal jurisprudence that "a person is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt."

Considering how false accusation could ruin a person's life, petition says that "false accusation sometimes destroys the entire life of an innocent person and there has been instances where the person who has been falsely implicated have even committed suicide. It does not only destroy an individual's life but creates a social stigma to the family members too. Need of the hour demands that some preventive measures must be taken so as to avoid and to deal with such situations in the interest of justice."(sic)

Petition highlights how Section 228-A of the Indian penal Code provides punishment for disclosing the identity of the victims but does not provide any safeguard for protection of the identity and integrity of the accused in case of false accusation.

Petition to prove its point gives example of S.Nambi Narayanan (who is an Indian scientist and aerospace engineer and also awarded India's third highest civilian award the Padma Bhushan) who was falsely charged with espionage and was later on cleared of all charges and had to put up a long fight to save his reputation. Petition says that no amount of compensation could restore what he had lost in the process.