Anna University Sexual Assault Case : Supreme Court Stays Madras HC's Directions Against Tamil Nadu Police Over FIR Leak

The Supreme Court today (January 27) stayed the Madras High Court's direction to the Tamil Nadu police to hold a departmental enquiry regarding the leak of the FIR in the sexual assault case of a 2nd Year Engineering Student inside the Anna University campus in Chennai.A bench comprising Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma also stayed the adverse comments made by the High Court against the State Police in relation to the FIR leak.The interim order was passed while issuing notice to the respondents on the State's petition seeking the expunction of the adverse remarks made by the High Court.On December 28, 2024, the High Court, while directing a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising women IPS officers to investigate the allegations, observed that there were lapses on the part of the police and the University and was thus inclined to form the SIT.The High Court also remarked that the details of the First Information Report(FIR) leaked which contained the personal details of the victim and this has to be viewed seriously and investigated. The Court said that the FIR leak was a serious lapse on the part of the police which caused trauma for the victim and her family. The High Court directed the State to pay an interim compensation of Rs. 25 Lakh to the victim girl, which could be recovered from those who were responsible for the dereliction of duty and leaking of the FIR. At the Supreme Court, a bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma while stating that the SIT shall continue its investigation, stayed the operation of paragraphs 20, 21, 23 and 29(9) of the order which puts responsibility for the lapses on the police officer. Paragraph 29(9) particularly states: "(9)The respondents 1 and 2 are directed to conduct a departmental inquiry regarding leaking of FIR and initiate departmental disciplinary proceedings against the officials, who all are responsible and accountable for lapses, negligence and dereliction of duty under relevant service rules."At the outset, Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Siddharth Luthra, for the State of Tamil Nadu, clarified that the lapses cannot be attributed to the police commissioner because the FIR uploaded on the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) had blocked personal details. However, due to a technical glitch and because the system had to migrate from older criminal Codes to newer ones, it resulted in the leakage of personal details. Rohatgi pointed out that the State wrote to CCTNS to block the details of the FIR. He further added that an FIR was filed against unknown persons for the leakage of FIR details. Adding to this, Luthra informed that all links through which the FIR could be possibly downloaded are blocked and will continue to be blocked. It should be noted that the State clarified that it is not opposing the constitution of SIT.Justice Nagarathna stated that whatever may be the reasons, "secondary trauma" was caused to the victim. But nevertheless the Court stayed the operation of the following paragraphs of the order. BackgroundA High Court division bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and V Lakshminarayanan passed the directions.The High Court strongly criticised the Commissioner for holding a press meeting and discussing the case without getting any prior sanction from the Government. The court condemned the commissioner's act and said that no service rules or other rules permitted the same. The Court remarked that such a press meeting should have been avoided and asked the government to look into the issue and take appropriate action, if necessary."This court is of the opinion that the press meet of the commissioner, without obtaining prior permission from the Government would not fall under any exclusion and therefore the government has to examine and initiate action against the Commissioner, if requireed, under the relevant law," the court said.The Court also criticised the police for wording the FIR in an insensitive way which further paved way for victim blaming. The Court stressed that the victim, who was only 19 years old should have been given counselling at the time of filing the FIR. The Court also remarked that the FIR itself was in the nature of victim blaming portraying as if the girl's actions resulted in the incident. The Court emphasised that society should refrain from victim blaming as it ends up benfitting the perpetrators."Women have always been punished for the crimes against them. Society should be ashamed of blaming womne. Why can't a woman wish to walk around freely at night, dress up the way she wants, talk to her male friends? Every man should be taught to respect women instead of teaching women how to behave. The perpetrators benefit from victim shaming and victim blaming," the court said.Case Details: THE GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL NADU AND ORS. v. R. VARALAKSHMI AND ORS., SLP(Crl) No. 1027-1028/2025Click Here To Read/Download Order

Anna University Sexual Assault Case : Supreme Court Stays Madras HC's Directions Against Tamil Nadu Police Over FIR Leak

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

Tags