In a significant step towards justice and accountability, the Madras High Court on Saturday constituted an all-women Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by senior IPS officers to probe both the alleged sexual assault case and the subsequent leakage of the First Information Report (FIR) at Anna University. Justices SM Subramaniam and V Lakshminarayanan appointed IPS officers Sneha Priya, Ayman Jamal, and Brinda to handle the investigation with utmost sensitivity and professionalism.
The court also took strong action in response to the mishandling of the victim’s privacy and the leak of the FIR. The jury sentenced the Tamil Nadu government to pay a sum of Rs 25 lakh to the victim, accepting that the trauma arose from the disclosure of the FIR. The court decreed that Anna University provide free education with boarding, lodging, and counselling facilities to the victim to pursue her studies uninterruptedly.
In an important directive, the court ordered the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) to ensure that such leaks do not happen in future cases involving sexual offences, particularly those against women and children. The court also questioned the role of the Greater Chennai Commissioner of Police in conducting a press conference that revealed sensitive details of the case and directed necessary action to be taken if warranted.
Attorney General PS Raman said, "The leak could probably be a technical glitch created by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), which has got the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) up and running."
He had a little more to add on the 14 people who accessed the FIR and shared details, including the name of the victim. The court also asked why police officials did not get prior permission to hold a media conference.
The case was reported on December 23; it was when a second-year student of Anna University was allegedly assaulted in the campus grounds. The investigators have currently nabbed one person. "This intervention by the court is in the wake of it taking suo motu cognizance of the matter, emphasizing the importance of" the whole thing from here on.