No interviewing minor survivors of sexual abuse or using their blurred photos, SC reiterates
New Delhi, Aug 8: The Supreme Court, which expressed concern today over incidents of rape in the country by observing that women are being raped "left, right and centre", has asked all the print, electronic and social media not to publish or display photos of survivors of sexual abuse even in blurred or morphed form in any case across in the country.
The top court also warned against interviewing minor survivors of sexual abuse saying it has serious mental impact.
It asked the Centre to appraise it on steps proposed to be taken to prevent sexual abuse of minors in shelter homes across country.
It said that survivors of child sex abuse can only be interviewed by members of National Commission For Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and State Commissions For Protection of Child Rights in presence of counsellors.
The
top
court
also
pulled
up
the
Delhi
Commission
for
Women
for
trying
to
intervene
in
the
Bihar
shelter
home
case
and
said
that
no
politics
should
be
involved
in
the
matter.
Earlier
in
the
day,
a
bench
comprising
justices
MB
Lokur,
Deepak
Gupta
and
KM
Joseph
came
down
heavily
on
the
Bihar
government
for
funding
the
NGO
which
ran
the
shelter
home
in
Muzaffarpur
where
girls
were
allegedly
sexually
abused.
The bench, during the hearing in the morning, referred to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data and said that every six hours, a woman is raped in India.
It
referred
to
the
NCRB
data
and
said
38,947
women
were
raped
in
India
in
2016.
Tata
Institute
of
Social
Sciences
(TISS),
which
conducted
an
audit
of
shelter
homes,
told
the
court
that
out
of
110
such
institutions
in
Bihar,
"grave
concerns" have
been
raised
about
15.
To this, the Bihar government told the apex court that nine cases of sexual abuse have been lodged involving these 15 institutions run by various NGOs.
Over 30 girls were allegedly raped at the shelter home run by Brajesh Thakur, the chief of the state-funded NGO.
The alleged sexual exploitation of the girls was first highlighted in an audit report submitted by TISS to the state's social welfare department in April.
An FIR was lodged against 11 people, including Brajesh Thakur, on May 31. The probe has now been taken over by the CBI.
In all, sexual abuse of 34 inmates out of 42 was confirmed in their medical examination, while two others who were unwell were yet to undergo medical tests.
The TISS audit report stated that many girls at the shelter home had complained of sexual abuse. A special investigation team was formed to probe the complaints.
The NGO running the shelter home in Muzaffarpur was blacklisted and the girls were shifted to shelter homes in Patna and Madhubani.
Women staff members of the shelter home and Brajesh Thakur were among those who were arrested by the police in connection with the case.