SC slams home ministry over rape clips; CD, pen drive sent to forensic lab
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday criticised the Union home ministry for not nabbing the culprits involved in the gangrape incident that had been uploaded on social media last month. The court also directed the Telangana government to pay Rs 25,000 to Hyderabad-based NGO Prajwala, for not apprehending those who had damaged a vehicle of a Prajwala office-bearer after the videos had been uploaded. The Odisha government too was directed to pay Rs 50,000 to the petitioner for not being represented in court despite an order.
The Social Justice bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Uday Lalit had taken suo motu cognisance of a letter written to Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu by NGO Prajwala, along with a pen drive containing videos highlighting the crime committed by a gang and seeking action.
The Supreme Court bench pointed out that petitioner NGO Prajwala’s counsel Aparna Bhat had handed over the material to the home ministry on February 10 and only on March 8, the ministry had handed over the same to the CBI. It sought an explanation as to the reasons for this inordinate delay.
Additional Solicitor-General Maninder Singh informed the court that as soon as the CDs and the pen drive were received, the CBI had sent them to the Central Institute of Forensic Science for authentication of the photographs and the report was received the same day on March 8.
The CBI has registered eight FIRs and done preliminary enquiry relating to the video clippings and the CISF is in the process of identifying the offenders.
Justice Lalit told the ASG that unless the Home ministry was able to identify the persons who had uploaded the clippings and the source, it would be difficult to nab them. He said, “The persons who had committed the heinous crime must be dealt with an iron hand. Arrest the culprits immediately. Why don’t you (home ministry) publish the photographs of the culprits and announce a reward for apprehending them?”
The bench directed the CBI to take steps for identifying the persons and publishing their photos in states where there was information about their identity.
During the last hearing, the court had ordered a CBI probe and issued notices to the Centre, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi and Odisha as the crimes appeared to have been committed by offenders hailing from these states.
The bench noted that the letter of Dr Sunita Krishnan had indicated that the offence of rape was being committed with impunity and the offenders had the audacity to video record the crime and put it on public domain. This had a negative impact on the criminal justice system.
The bench also observed that the Telangana police had failed to apprehend the rapists or those involved in damaging the car of a Prajwala office-bearer who had circulated the edited video clips to facilitate the arrest of the culprits.
Not satisfied with the explanation of counsel for Telangana about the progress of the probe and the action taken to apprehend those who damaged the vehicle, the bench imposed Rs 25,000 cost on the state to be given to the petitioner.
Similarly, noticing that Odisha was not represented despite a notice, the bench imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on the state to be given to the petitioner. The bench posted the matter for further hearing on March 20.
Activist Sunitha Krishnan happy with Supreme Court’s decision
Sunitha Krishnan, co-founder of the anti-trafficking NGO Prajwala, was delighted with the Supreme Court decision. “A message will now be sent across that the Supreme Court is concerned and it is prioritising the issue,” she said. The activist was in Delhi on Friday for the hearing.
Speaking about the silence of various feminist groups and others on this issue, Ms Sunitha Krishnan said, “I don’t see any other groups standing up for this cause. Everyone has been talking about a documentary being banned there was all kinds of drama around it.”
“But nobody seems to be bothered about the video where the faces of rapists are clearly visible.” added Ms Sunitha Krishnan.
