Court Refuses To Cancel FIR Against Maliwal For Sharing Rape Victim's Name

The Delhi high court has refused to quash the FIR against former Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) and Aam Aadmi Party parliamentarian Swati Maliwal for allegedly revealing the identity of a 14-year-old rape victim to the media.

A bench of justice Neena Bansal Krishna, while arriving at her prima facie view, took note of Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act—which punishes disclosure of the identity of a child victim of certain offences—and the fact that the circulation of notice issued to the station house officer (SHO) was not under challenge.

​“It is not under challenge that a notice was issued to the SHO which got published on the WhatsApp Group of DCW by Sh. Bhupender Singh, public relations officer, which later got it circulated to the news channels wherein the name of the prosecutrix was disclosed. Prima facie, offence under Section 74 read with Section 86 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 is clearly disclosed. Therefore, there is no ground for quashing the FIR and the proceedings consequent thereto,” the bench said in its February 13 verdict, released on Wednesday.