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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Bengaluru narcotics crackdown: 15 held, drugs worth Rs 10.59 cr seized
Bengaluru (PTI): Fifteen people, including three foreign nationals, have been arrested for allegedly peddling banned narcotic substances across Bengaluru, police said on Tuesday.
The arrests were made in joint operations carried out in different police station limits following specific inputs about drug trafficking activities.
“The CCB Narcotics Control Wing and police stations under various limits of Bengaluru City have arrested a total of 15 persons, including three foreign nationals and 12 persons from other states, for selling banned narcotic substances such as hydroponic ganja, MDMA, cocaine, LSD pills, LSD strips, hashish oil and ganja,” the press release issued by the Office of the Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru City, stated.
Cases were registered under the NDPS Act based on credible information received on different dates that banned narcotic substances were being sold within the limits of the CCB Narcotics Control Wing and the police stations of Amruthahalli, Hebbagodi, JB Nagar, Sheshadripuram, Mahalakshmi Layout and Govindapura.
“Acting on the information, raids were conducted at the identified locations and a total of 15 people, including three foreign nationals and 12 persons from other states, were apprehended on different dates,” the release said.
According to police, during interrogation, the accused admitted that they were involved in drug peddling for quick money.
“During interrogation, the accused confessed that with the intention of making quick money, they procured banned narcotic substances such as hydroponic ganja, ganja, MDMA, cocaine, LSD pills, LSD strips and hashish oil from unidentified foreign and out-of-state persons and were selling them to the public, college students and IT/BT employees,” it said.
Police said a large quantity of drugs and other materials were seized from the accused.
“The seized items include 9 kg 460 grams of hydroponic ganja, 5 kg 677 grams of MDMA, 34 kg of ganja, 131 grams of cocaine, 462 ml of hashish oil, 29 LSD pills, 27 grams of LSD strips, one car, one two-wheeler and four mobile phones. The total value of the seized property is Rs 10.59 crore (market value Rs 21.50 crore),” the release stated.
In addition, Rs 24,500 in cash was also seized from the accused.
Efforts are underway to trace the foreign and other suppliers who provided the banned narcotic substances to the arrested persons, they said.
Investigation in the case is in progress.
