In Our Society, People Start Finding Fault With Rape Victim Instead Of Empathizing With Her: Justice Indira Banerjee

Justice Indira Banerjee, in a judgment delivered on Monday, made some observations regarding societal approach towards rape victims.

"In our society, victims of sexual offence are, more often than not, treated as the abettor, if not perpetrator of the crime, even though the victim may be absolutely innocent. Instead of empathizing with the victim people start finding fault with the victim. The victim is ridiculed, defamed, gossiped about, and even ostracized", the Judge observed.

In this case, the High Court of Karnataka had upheld an orderolding an order passed by a POCSO Court taking cognizance against a person accused of offence under Section 23 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. The accused was the Editor of Karavali Munjavu Newspaper which published a news regarding the sexual harassment of a 16 year old girl, by naming the victim.

Section 23(2) of the POCSO Act reads thus : No reports in any media shall disclose, the identity of a child including his name, address, photograph, family details, school, neighbourhood or any other particulars which may lead to disclosure of identity of the child. 

The legal issue raised by the accused-appellant was whether Section 155(2) of the Cr.P.C. applies to the investigation of an offence 2 under Section 23 of POCSO ? While Justice Banerjee held that the Magistrate's permission was not needed for the police to investigate the offence under Section 23 POCSO, Justice JK Maheshwari held otherwise. In view of the split verdict, the matter has been referred to the Chief Justice of India to constitute an appropriate bench to resolve the issue. Read the report about split verdict here.

Justice Banerjee observed that the disclosure of the identity of a child who is a victim of sexual offences or who is in conflict with the law is in fundamental breach of the right of the child to dignity, the right not to be embarrassed.

"The provision of Section 23 of POCSO which protects child victims of sexual abuse from unwarranted intrusion into privacy, harassment and mental agony has to be strictly enforced. The provision cannot be allowed to be diluted...A child against whom offence under Section 23 of POCSO has been committed, by disclosure of her identity, may require special protection, care and even shelter, necessitating expeditious investigation for compliance of sub-sections (5) and (6) of Section 19 of POCSO.", the judge added.

Case : Gangadhar Narayan Nayak @ Gangadhar Hiregutti vs State of Karnataka | 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 301

Click here to read/download the judgment