Odisha Custodial Assault Case: HC Restrains Media From Using Names Of Victims

Taking suo motu cognisance of last week's alleged assault of an army officer and his fiancee at a police station in Bhubaneswar, the Orissa High Court on Monday expressed shock and concern over the incident and restrained both mainstream media and social media from publishing the names and identification of the victims.

A Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Chakradhari Saran Singh appreciating the steps taken by the state government so far in the case, however, came down heavily on the administration for not installing CCTV camera surveillance facilities in all 650 police stations of the state. The court directed a senior police officer of the state to submit a report on this by October 8.

Stating that the Bhubaneswar police station incident was very "disturbing", the high court also directed the state government to appraise it (HC) with details as to what measures are going be taken at the police station level in future, so that the dignity and identification of the complainants arriving at the police station are protected.

"We have intentionally not disclosed the names of the persons, who had visited the police station on September 15 night to lodge a complaint, but came out injured and implicated in an attempt to murder case. We consider it necessary for the facts and circumstance to restrain all concerns from publishing the identity of the two persons who visited the police station," the court said.

Advocate General Pitambar Acharya told the court that the state government has appointed a Judicial Commission of Enquiry under Justice CR Dash, a former judge of the high court. He also informed that the state government was swift in its action, by suspending five police officers involved in the incident and arresting the seven road Romeos, who had allegedly harassed the complainant duo.