Supreme Court refuses to take any legal action against Kerela’s Judicial Magistrate who revealed a rape survivor’s name in his order

Today (April 19, 2024), the Supreme Court (SC) of India upheld the order of the Kerala High Court that refused to take any legal action against a Judicial Magistrate who revealed a rape survivor’s name in his order. While refusing to entertain the plea filed by a rape survivor seeking action against the Magistrate, the SC said that the lapse may have been inadvertent due to the workload of judicial officers. The bench comprising Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Hrishikesh Roy said, “Do you have a grudge against the judicial officer? We have so many cases to handle, we also make mistakes. Do you want us to put costs for filing instant appeal?” 

The issue in the case originated when a judicial magistrate passed an order declining to cancel the bail granted to the rape accused where he revealed the name of the rape survivor. In this context, the rape survivor filed an appeal against the judicial magistrate in the HC seeking legal action against him as he disclosed the identity of the rape survivor despite the legal requirement of keeping it confidential. The Single-judge bench of the HC refused to take legal action. It further said that Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, criminalizes the act of ‘disclosure if identity of the victim of certain offences, etc.’ such as rape, is only applicable to those who print or publish the victim’s identity. The HC added that the Section does not include situations where a court inadvertently reveals information during the proceedings. 

Further, the matter was mentioned before the Division bench of the HC that upheld the decision of the Single-judge bench which was challenged by the rape survivor before the SC. After hearing the matter, the top court upheld the order of the Kerala HC and refused to take any legal action against a Judicial Magistrate.