Court restrains media from reporting names, addresses of Unnao rape survivor, family & witnesses

A Delhi court Wednesday directed the media to abstain from reporting names and address of the Unnao rape survivor, her family and witnesses and certain other aspects of the case. District Judge Dharmesh Sharma issued a slew of guidelines on media reporting including restraining it from reporting on testimonies of witnesses and merits of the case.

The court said the trial has to be completed within 45-day deadline set by the Supreme Court and declined the plea of CBI seeking 30 days to complete the investigation by saying that it has to be done by August 17. During the proceedings, senior Public Prosecutor Ashok Bhartendu, appearing for CBI, said the statement of the rape survivor, recorded by the court, should be relied upon in this case and the accused persons should be put on trial.

The CBI's contention was supported by advocate Dharmendra Kumar Mishra and advocate and general secretary of Pragatisheel Mahila Sanghathan, Poonam Kaushik, the counsel of the victim and her family. Opposing CBI's contentions, advocate Tanvir Ahmed Mir, appearing for the accused -- expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar -- said the allegations were "false" and "motivated".

He claimed the allegations were a result of "prior animosity" between the families of Sengar and the survivor. While issuing directions for the media, the court said it will make appropriate decision at a later stage on holding "in-camera" proceedings.

The court said however that for the time being, media will not cover and exclude part of the proceedings as and when any specific directions are passed by the court during course of inquiry/ trial as the case may be. "The media shall refrain from reporting testimony of any witness, wholly or partly, and refrain from appreciating such evidence or giving any opinion on the merits of the case during the course of this enquiry/ trial as the case may be," it said.

The court further said media persons will not record the proceedings in audio-video mode inside or outside the courtroom. It said access was allowed to one representative journalist/legal correspondent of each of the national dailies and the reporters of news agencies -- Press Trust of India (PTI) and ANI -- besides other national dailies shall share their stories with the representatives of other news papers and members of the electronic media.

"The media is restrained as also refrained from reporting the names and addresses of the family members of the survivors, names of survivor as also the complainant and other witnesses cited and to be examined during the proceedings or trial," the court said. During the hearing, Mir sought a total media gag which was dismissed by the court, saying media cannot be disallowed to attend the proceedings of the case.

During the proceedings, the court also directed the CBI to hand over the call detail reports and the forensic reports to the accused persons. The court is holding day-to-day trial in the case as per the directions of the Supreme Court.

Mir contended the age of the survivor and said it does not fall under the provisions of the Protection of Child from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. To this, Bhartendu controverted the claims based on certain documents in the charge sheet.

The court also directed the IO to ensure that a provision be also made of some nominal amount towards daily allowance, so that the family members of the survivor are not left hard of cash for their daily needs. It sought a report on it by August 13. The apex court had transferred four criminal cases from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi -- the 2017 rape case; a fake matter under the Arms Act against the father of the rape survivor; his death in police custody, and the gang rape of the woman -- and directed to hold trial on a daily basis completing it within 45-days.

The Unnao rape survivor was admitted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre in Delhi on Monday night after being airlifted from King George Hospital at Lucknow following the yesterday's direction of the apex court to the Uttar Pradesh government to transfer her to Delhi during the day. The woman, allegedly raped by Sengar in 2017 when she was a minor, is battling for life after a truck rammed into the car she was travelling in with some family members and her lawyer in Rae Bareli. Two of her aunts died in the accident on July 28, 2019.

Sengar and nine others were also booked for murder by the CBI in the accident case.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)