Personal details of the victims of sexual offences will be omitted from all court filings throughout the national capital to protect their identity. The guidelines, or ‘Practice Directions’, were issued by the High Court on October 4. A ‘Practice Direction’ is an administrative directive issued by the courts to provide procedural instructions related to the conduct of legal proceedings.
The court said the victim’s address, name, parentage, social media credentials, and photographs must not be disclosed in the court filings. It also asked the court registry to be careful while scrutinising all filings relating to sexual offence cases. The court’s directions came on the basis of cases where the victim’s identity was inadvertently revealed.
In April 2018, the Delhi High Court had taken a suo motu cognisance of the publication of photographs and the name of the Kathua rape victim by some media houses.
It’s a punishable offence under Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code to disclose the identity of the victim. Those responsible for it may be sent to jail for a maximum term of two years.
