Notice to Centre on plea against revelation of Hyderabad rape victim's identity by media

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the Centre’s response to a plea seeking action against media houses for revealing the identity of the woman in the Telangana murder and alleged rape case, reported Live Law. A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notices to the Centre, the governments of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi, as well as some media houses and social networking platforms.

Petitioner Yashdeep Chahal said disclosing names, addresses, pictures, work details of the victim and the accused violated laws set by the Supreme Court in the Nipun Saxena case as well as certain sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code says rape victims or survivors of other sexual offences prescribed by law cannot be identified without explicit permission. A violation could carry a fine and imprisonment of upto two years. Not only must the name of the victim be concealed, any detail that could make the identity of the rape victim public is illegal.