Madras High Court tells SIT probing Anna University FIR leak not to harass journalists

The Madras High Court Tuesday ordered that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the leak of identity of sexual harassment victim at Anna University should not harass any journalists under the pretext of questioning them..Justice GK Ilanthirayan directed the SIT to refrain from harassing journalists and also said in his order that journalists too must cooperate with the probe.The Court was hearing a petition filed by four journalists from Chennai claiming that the all-women SIT had been harassing them. They said they had been summoned multiple times and that the SIT members had also seized mobile phones of some of them, and they were being asked irrelevant questions such as details of their family members, though it did not have any relation to the case..The journalists who moved the Court are those who had downloaded a copy of the FIR in the sexual assault case, from the official website of the State police.Such FIR had initially failed to mask the name and address of the victim. By the time the police realised this and took corrective action, the FIR was downloaded by several people including some journalists and the victim’s details were thus, made public.The petitioners however, told the High Court that in downloading the FIR from the police website they had not committed any wrong. The petitioners also said that while they had accessed the victim’s details, they had not made any of it public through their reportage..On December 25, the Chennai Police arrested a roadside biryani vendor, Gnanasekaran, for allegedly sexually assaulting the student of Anna University on the campus.As per the complaint, the incident occurred on December 23 this year. The complainant later approached the police and also filed a complaint with the University’s Internal Complaints Committee for prevention of sexual harassment. The High Court took suo motu cognisance of the issue after an advocate wrote to the Court raising concerns on the law and order in the State and the safety of students in the city.