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Anna University Sexual Assault: Madras HC slams police for blaming victim in FIR and leaking unmasked FIR, orders probe by all women SIT and compensation to the girl

The Madras High Court on Saturday said that the FIR registered into the Anna University sexual assault case blames the victim, and slammed the police for ‘wrong wordings’ in the FIR. A vacation bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice V Lakshminarayan made the comments during a special hearing into a petition seeking CBI probe into the case. The court ordered an all-women SIT probe into the case, slammed police for irregularities in the probe, ordered the state govt to pay compensation to the victim, and also asked the state to consider a probe against Police Commissioner for a press conference on the case. Further the court asked the university to allow the girl to complete the study without any fees.

After reading the FIR, Justice Lakshminarayan said that “This is pure victim blaming”, asking Attorney General PS Ramam whether he had read it. Justice Subramaniam said that the bench is sure that the FIR will not stand trial because it is wrongly worded, and blames the victim girl for the sexual assault on her.

The judge said, “We’re sure that this will not stand before any trial court. It’s blaming her for the incident. As if her dressing etc invited the incident.”

Justice Subramaniam said that the police personnel should have assisted the victim in drafting the FIR properly so that it could stand the test of trial. He asked how an FIR can be drafted like this.

The court also slammed the police after it was told that the FIR without masking the details of the victim was uploaded on website and it was downloaded by some people before it was taken down. AG PS Raman said that the FIR with unmasked details was downloaded by 14 people before it could be blocked. He said that the error took place due to transition from IPC to BNS.

However, the court didn’t accept this explanation, saying that BNS came into effect in 1st July and this is December end. The bench also wanted to know how many FIRs with sensitive information were leaked due to this error in the last five months.

The AG added that media and people who accessed the FIR should show responsibility and not disclose sensitive information in public. The bench responded by saying that the state as the power to prosecute such people.

AG Ramana also pointed out a discrepancy in involvement of another person. He said, “He’s portrayed as if he was talking to someone else during that time to give an impression that there were others involved. But we’ve received the call records and the entire time his phone was in airplane mode.”

Notably, the police commissioner had told the media that there is only one accused in the case. The court discussed whether the commissioner can make such comments during the probe, and was told by the AG that he can make comments when if there’s a law & order situation resulting from a crime. He said that the commissioner held the press conference to assure the students that police is not shielding anybody.

Additional Advocate General J Ravindran representing Anna University said that a committee has been formed to find out safety measures to be taken in future. The court said that the victim student should be allowed to continue her studies in the university, which was agreed to by the AAG.

In the final order, the court said that the FIR was not properly worded and it failed to protect the dignity of the victim girl. The court said, “Women have always been punished for the crimes against them… Society should be ashamed of blaming women. Why can’t a woman wish to walk around freely at night, dress up the way she wants, talk to her male friends?”

The order added that such victim blaming helps the perpetrators of such crimes.

The High Court also took the matter of FIR leak seriously, saying it not only breached the girl’s right to privacy but also her right to dignity. “Even if technical error, such errors should not happen in such sensational cases involving crimes against women,” said the court and ordered an investigation into the leak.

The court appreciated the courage shown by the victim for coming forward to report the case.

Moreover, the court ordered Anna University to compensate the victim by saying that she was wronged by the institution by failing to ensure her safety. Court said that the victim’s tuition fee, hostel fee etc should be let go for the future period of her study.

The court further said that the the press conference by the police commissioner without prior permission does not fall under exception, and asked the govt to initiate action against the commissioner, if needed, under relevant law.

The bench also said that there were lapses on part of the police and the university. The court finally decided to form an SIT with women police officials to look into the case.

“We hope all women SIT will take up the investigation in right earnest and file chargesheet in both the cases (sexual assault and FIR leak). No offender should be allowed to scot free irrespective of their status, position or otherwise,” the court ordered.

The High Court bench further ordered the police to provide interim protection to victim and her family, and ordered the state to pay interim compensation of ₹25 lakh to the victim for serious lapses on the part of police leaking FIR and for trauma undergone by victim and her family. Anna University was ordered to allow the victim to continue and complete her course without collecting any fees including tuition fee, hostel fee, exam fee, miscellaneous charges etc.

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OpIndia Staffhttps://www.opindia.com
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