Kerala High Court seeks lawyers' suggestions to protect sexual assault victims from harassment

The Kerala High Court's observations came on a plea for police protection, where the victim has alleged that she was being harassed by not only the accused but by certain police officers as well and as a result, she has been forced to go into hiding by residing with a close relative of hers.

Kochi: Victims of sexual assault need to be fully protected from any further harassment or ridicule as it takes a lot of courage to come forward and say they have been attacked, the Kerala High Court said on Thursday and invited suggestions from all lawyers on how such persons can be shielded from further trauma on account of the investigation process.

Justice Devan Ramachandran said that even though there are protocols in place to protect and support victims of sexual assault, "tragically" many a times these are found to be "not effectively implemented".   "It always takes a lot of courage for a victim of sexual assault to make a complaint and in some cases accusations are seen to be made, on account of process of investigation, which further traumatise her and subject her to harassment and ridicule," the court said.

"That should never happen. This has to be arrested. We should ensure all the victims of sexual assault are fully protected and that the full might of the law is behind them," it added. The court said the issue was not a small matter "and that is why we have all these principles of confidentiality" to ensure that the victim is not subjected to public gaze at all.