POCSO Case: Gurugram Court Frames Charges Against Deepak Chaurasiya, Chitra Tripathi, 6 Other Journalists; Trial To Begin On Sep 25

A special court in Haryana's Gurugram last week framed charges against 8 Journalists including anchors Deepak Chaurasia, Chitra Tripathi, and Ajit Anjum for allegedly airing 'morphed, edited & obscene' videos of a 10 y/o girl and her family and linking the same to a sexual assault case against self-styled godman Asaram Bapu.

All 8 media professionals - Ajit Anjum, Anchor Md Sohail, and reporter Sunil Dutt worked with News24, editor-in-chief Chaurasia, anchors Tripathi and Rashid Hashmi, Jodhpur reporter Lalit Singh Badgurjar, and producer Abhinav Raj worked with India News- have been charged under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 469 and 471 (forgery) IPC; sections 67B (abusing children online) and 67 (publishing or transmitting sexually explicit content) IT Act; and sections 23 (disclosure of identity of a child by the media) and 13C (indecent or obscene representation of a child) of the POCSO Act.

All 8 have been charged with hatching a criminal conspiracy whereby agreeing to prepare a forged video of a minor girl victim aged about 10 years and her family by showing the victim and her family in an indecent manner and telecasting the same on news channels, thereby harming the reputation of victim and her family.

Further, they have also been charged for forging and editing the electronic record (the video clip) intending that the document or record forged shall harm the reputation of the victim and her family or knowing that it is likely to be used for that purpose and telecast the same on the respective channels and represented the girl child in an indecent and obscene manner by telecasting the forged/edited video clip on news channels.

Regarding the charge of Section 23 of the POCSO Act, the Court's order reads thus:

"...on 02.07.2013, when religious Guru Asharam Babu Visited the house of complainant and said visit was recorded on mobile camera by one of the assistant of the complainant or a close aide of Asharam Bapu and the said video was telecasted by all of you on news channels i.e. News24 and India News without having complet and authentic information which may have the effect lowering the reputation of victim and her family and infringing upon her privacy and in the said video clip it had been shown that religious Guru Asharam Bapu has been touching the back of the minor girl (victim 'M') inappropriately and you have shown the victim in a vulgar and indecent manner by tampering and distorting the video (electronic record) and all of you while telecasting the said forged electronic record or video document disclosed the identity of the family details etc. which may lead to the disclosure of the identity of the child (victim 'M') and thus thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 23 POCSO Act read with Section 120-B of IPC, which is within the cognizance of this Court." 

The charges were read over to the accused to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. The matter will now come up for hearing on September 25, 2023, for evidence of the prosecution.