The Madras High Court has strongly condemned the conduct of police officers in a sexual harassment case, expressing concern over the presence of male officers during the viewing of private videos in front of the victim. The court observed that the method of investigation caused further mental trauma to the woman and stressed that such cases should be handled only by female officers.
The case, initially filed by the victim, a lawyer, seeking the removal of private videos that had been shared on various websites, came up for hearing again before Justice Anand Venkatesh. The central government submitted a report stating that action had been taken to block the websites in compliance with an earlier court directive.
However, the victim’s counsel pointed out that the videos had resurfaced on 39 websites despite the earlier order. The court took serious note of this and directed the central government to take steps to prevent the further circulation of the content. Justice Venkatesh also instructed the government to submit a detailed petition explaining where victims can file complaints to remove such content and what actions would follow.
During the hearing, the judge noted that the victim’s name had been included in the first information report (FIR) and that seven police officers had watched the video in the victim’s presence to identify the accused. The court condemned this practice and said it had inflicted additional psychological harm on the victim.
Justice Venkatesh advised that only female police personnel should handle investigations in such sensitive cases. Taking the seriousness of the matter into account, the judge requested the assistance of the state’s chief criminal prosecutor and directed the police to immediately remove the victim’s name from all official documents, including the FIR.
The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for 22 July 2025.
(With inputs from ETV Bharat)
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