SC Bars Media From Telecasting Images, Videos Of Minor Rape Survivors

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday restrained the media from showing images and videos of minor rape survivors even in blurred and morphed form.

Taking suo moto cognizance of Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case, the apex court also expressed concern over the identity of child rape victims being revealed by media.

A division bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta also sought a response from the Centre and the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Bihar government, on the issue.

On July 24, 11 employees of a child shelter home run by Seva Sankalp Evam Vikash Samiti were arrested for allegedly sexually harassing the inmates. The police had raided the vicinity and rescued 44 girls.

According to a fresh medical report released by the Patna Medical College and Hospital, 34 minor girls were allegedly raped at the shelter home.

One of the survivor had revealed her ordeal and told the interrogators that a girl was allegedly killed, and buried on the premises of the shelter home.

The CBI took over the investigation into the incident on Sunday, following a request from Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. On Wednesday, Bihar Governor Satya Pal Malik directed the state authorities to institute a monitoring system in all shelter homes in the state to avoid Muzaffarpur kind incidents in future.

The SC observation comes against the backdrop of a rising number of cases involving minors – the most notable being Kathua rape and murder, wherein the victim was an eight-year-old girl from Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district.