Delhi High Court Takes Suo Motu Cognizance Of Sexual Assault On 3-Yr-Old By School Cleaner, Seeks Action Taken Report

The Delhi High Court has taken suo motu cognizance of an alleged sexual assault on a 3-year-old minor girl by a cleaner working in her school in city’s South Delhi area.

A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Saurabh Banerjee registered a suo motu PIL on the basis of an article published in the Times of India on August 04 titled “3-year-old sexually assaulted by school cleaner in south Delhi.”

“It has been brought to the notice of this Court by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Subramonium Prasad, a news item published in the Times of India in respect of a three year old girl child who was sexually assaulted by a school cleaner in South Delhi. Let a Suo motu PIL be registered based on the newspaper report,” the court said in an order passed on August 08.

The court issued notice to the State and sought a status report within two weeks in respect of action taken in the matter by the Delhi Police as well as by the education department. “Mr. Tripathi, while filing the status report, will mask the name of the girl child as well as the names of the parents of the girl child, and shall undertake all necessary measures to protect the identity and right to privacy of the girl child,” the court said.

It also directed the Delhi Government’s counsel to take care that the media acts in compliance with the statutory provisions as contained in Section 23 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act), 2012.

The matter will now be heard on September 01.

Title: COURT ON ITS OWN MOTION v. GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI

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