New Delhi: Taking serious note of the allegations of harassment of a minor girl who participated in the July Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests, the Supreme Court Thursday said nobody can be permitted to browbeat a victim or her family for pursuing criminal proceedings.
A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to ensure action on the girl’s FIR and sought report from Delhi and UP governments on the issue. “Such matters cannot be taken lightly.
Nobody should be protected if violence against a child is involved… if persons accused of such acts were roaming free and attempting to browbeat the child or her family so that they do not pursue criminal proceedings, it would be a serious matter,” the bench observed. It further said, “There cannot be any second opinion about it. “Such matters cannot be taken lightly.
Nobody should be protected.” The counsel appearing for the 14-year-old girl told the court that she was harassed and her house was vandalised after she registered the FIR against a person who claimed in a video that he had attacked her father during the CJP’s protest. Without referring to any names, the lawyer said that instead of prosecuting those who were accompanying the accused, an FIR has been registered against the child.
This is also contrary to the Supreme Court’s earlier order, the lawyer said, adding that video can be placed on record showing that the girl’s residence had been subjected to stone pelting. “The high-powered committee will take time, but if something happens to the child in the meantime, that can not subsequently be reversed or repaired through the committee,” the counsel submitted.
Earlier, Delhi Police had added provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and criminal intimidation to the FIR against Hindutva influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj over the alleged assault on the minor activist’s father during the stir.