Bombay High Court has imposed a cost of ₹5,000 on law firm Hulyalkar & Associates for disclosing the name of a rape survivor in a petition.
The bench comprising Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Prithviraj Chavan stated that lawyers often don’t refrain from mentioning the victim’s name even though Section 228A IPC mandates non-disclosure of the name of a rape victim.
“Despite Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code and despite repeatedly telling the Advocates that it is an offence to disclose the name of the prosecutrix which is punishable with two years, the name of the prosecutrix is disclosed in the aforesaid petition,” the bench said.
The bench was hearing a petition filed by the accused seeking directions to quash an FIR against him. Pune police has registered an FIR against the accused under Section 376, Section 420 and Section 406 of the Indian Penal Code.
Advocate Zaid Anwar Qureshi instructed the law firm and sought permission to amend the plea and mask the name of the prosecutrix wherever it is mentioned in the petition including the title.
With imposing a fine of Rs 5,000, the Court has allowed amending the petition and posted the case to Feb 8, 2023.
