The Kerala High Court on May 22 directed the Registrar (Judicial) of the High Court to file a report on the steps taken to comply with the guidelines issued by the court on safe handling and preservation of sexually explicit materials by subordinate courts.
Justice K. Babu also asked the Kerala government to inform the court about the steps taken by authorities under it to implement the court’s guidelines regarding safe handling of such materials by the police and investigation officers.
The court passed the directives on a petition filed by the Kerala government seeking a directive to the Registrar of the High Court to issue appropriate circulars directing all subordinate courts to scrupulously follow the guidelines. The government said the guidelines were not being taken note of by subordinate courts as the High Court had not directed the Registrar to forward a copy of the judgment containing the guidelines to all the courts, especially the ones dealing with sexual offences against women and children.
The guidelines were issued to ensure that sexually explicit materials were preserved in such a manner that these are not accessed illegally by anybody.
The court order came while disposing of a petition by the survivor in the actor sexual assault case seeking a probe into the change in the hash value of the memory card kept in the custody of subordinate courts.
