Don’t name victims in sexual assault judgments: HC

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court has ruled that judges should not mention the name of victims in the judgments passed in sexual assault cases to protect their reputation.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court has ruled that judges should not mention the name of victims in the judgments passed in sexual assault cases to protect their reputation.

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Justice SP Garg said this while noting that a magistrate as well as district and sessions judge had mentioned the name of victim in their orders in a molestation case.

“The trial court was not expected to indicate the victim’s name in the judgment,” the court said.

“The mistake has been carried out by the district and sessions judge too. Presiding officers must avoid disclosing identity of the victim/prosecutrix in such cases in the judgment to protect her reputation,” it said.

The court noted it while dismissing a revision petition filed by a man challenging the legality and correctness of a July 2014 judgment passed by the district and sessions judge on his appeal against a magisterial court’s verdict convicting him for the offence under section 354 (molestation) of IPC.

The magistrate had awarded one-year jail term to the man for outraging the modesty of a seven-year-old girl in Okhla here in July 2012.