New Delhi, April 18: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed some media organisations to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation for disclosing the identity of an eight-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district.
Advocates representing the media houses told a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar that the mistake was due to ignorance of law and misconception that they could name the victim as she was dead.
As the media houses apologized, the court asked them to deposit the compensation amount with the Registrar General of the High Court within a week and directed that the money be transferred to the Jammu and Kashmir to be used for the victim's compensation scheme.
The court directed that wide and continuous publicity be given to the statutory provisions of law regarding privacy of victims of sexual offences and punishment for revealing their identities.
The court observed that there were long term repercussion to the victim's family, especially for the women members, due to such kind of reporting.
The court last week issued notice to several media houses for disclosing the victim's identity, saying it violated law and was punishable under Section 228-A of the Indian Penal Code.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the publication of photographs and the name of the rape victim, the court said that under Section 23 (Procedure for media) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act any person who discloses the identity of a child victim could be sent to a minimum six months' imprisonment.
The High Court also said it will take up the issue of social media being used as a tool for revealing and disseminating the identity of victims of sexual violence at a later stage and listed the matter for further hearing on April 25.
The minor in Kathua was held captive inside a temple and sedated before being repeatedly raped and murdered.
Sanjhi Ram, the caretaker of the temple, has been named the main accused and is said to have planned the heinous crime to instil fear among the Bakarwal community to which the victim belonged.
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Cold grips Delhi, minimum temperature settles around 3 degrees
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi woke up to intense cold conditions on Monday as the minimum temperature dipped to around 3 degrees Celsius at several weather stations across the city, making it the coldest January day since 2023.
On January 16, 2023, the minimum temperature had plunged to 1.4 degrees Celsius, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
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Station-wise data recorded at 8.30 am showed the Safdarjung Observatory, Delhi's principal weather station, registered a minimum temperature of 3.2 degrees Celsius, which was 4.2 notches below normal.
Palam recorded a minimum temperature of 3.3 degrees Celsius, while Lodhi Road logged 3 degrees Celsius.
Ridge recorded a minimum of 4.2 degrees Celsius and Ayanagar reported 3.2 degrees Celsius, the IMD data showed.
The IMD said the maximum temperature in the national capital is expected to touch 19 degrees Celsius.
It said cold wave conditions are likely to persist over the national capital over the next two days.
Delhi's air quality, meanwhile, remained poor.
According to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the city's overall Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 298 in the 'poor' category.
Around 20 monitoring stations recorded 'very poor' air quality, while the remaining stations were in the 'poor' category. Nehru Nagar recorded the worst air quality with an AQI of 344.
According to the CPCB classification, an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered 'good', 51 to 100 'satisfactory', 101 to 200 'moderate', 201 to 300 'poor', 301 to 400 'very poor', and 401 to 500 'severe'.
