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Miss "A" v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Anr.

Criminal Appeal · 2020 INSC 580Decided 8 Oct 2020
Criminal Appeal No. 659 of 2020
Justice Uday Umesh Lalit · Justice Vineet Saran · Justice S. Ravindra Bhat

Background

A young woman alleged in a viral Facebook video that she and other girls had been sexually exploited, prompting the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice and direct a Special Investigation Team to probe the matter. After the accused was arrested, he applied to the trial court for a certified copy of the victim's confidential statement recorded under Section 164 CrPC (a procedure meant to protect victims in such cases); the trial court refused, citing the risk to the investigation and the victim's safety, but the Allahabad High Court overturned that refusal and ordered the statement be handed over.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court had misapplied its own prior directions (from the Shivanna case) meant to protect rape victims' statements from disclosure until after a charge-sheet is filed and cognizance is taken by the court. The Court clarified that even after a charge-sheet is filed, an accused is not automatically entitled to a copy of the victim's Section 164 statement: that right arises only once the court takes cognizance and reaches the stage set out in Sections 207-208 of the CrPC. Because the accused's application and the High Court's order sidestepped these protective safeguards in a sexual exploitation case requiring utmost confidentiality, the Supreme Court set aside the High Court's order, even though the statement had already been shared with the accused by the time the matter reached the Supreme Court.

Lesson Learnt

In sexual offence cases, a victim's confidential statement to a magistrate cannot be handed over to the accused merely because a charge-sheet has been filed: strict procedural safeguards exist specifically to protect victims and the integrity of the investigation, and courts must apply them carefully.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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