Priya Gour
Published on: 1st September, 2022 at 18:47 IST
The mother of a sexual assault victim has moved to the Supreme Court against the Telangana government for contempt of court. The state has been alleged to have violated the apex court’s guidelines with respect to Section 164 CrPC.
A bench of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit and Justice S Ravindra Bhat issued notice to the State of Telangana in this regard.
Even without the charge-sheet being filed, the Telangana Police allowed the accused access to the statement of the two survivors recorded under Section 164 CrPC. This violates the guidelines of the top court of non-disclosure of contents of chargesheet- State of Karnataka v. Shivanna @ Tarkari Shivanna.
The sitting bench issued notice to the state on the plea and posted the case for further consideration on September 26.
The case involved the sexual assault of two children by the father, for which their mother approached the court. The statement of the victim, recorded by the Magistrate under Section 164 CrPC, has been used by the accused on various occasions.
The petition said, “…chargesheet has not been filed yet and hence, there arises no occasion or opportunity for the Respondent No. 4 and 5 (accused persons) to get the copy of 164 Cr.P.C. statement and/or to know the contents of the 164 Cr.P.C. statement and yet the Respondent No. 4 and Respondent No. 5 on multiple occasions not only referred to but also annexed the copy of the 164 Cr.P.C. statements during the course of proceedings before the Trial Court.”
It was submitted that the statement under Section 164 CrPC is the most crucial evidence given by the survivor in sexual crimes. And so it’s access to the accused in such cases would undermine the proceedings.
Even earlier, the apex court had set aside similar permission under Section 164 by the Allahabad High Court. Such allegations intend non-obedience to the top court’s orders, jeopardising the process of justice.
As a result, the bench scheduled a hearing on September 26, 2022.