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Synopsis

A Division Bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice PK Chavan has imposed a cost of Rs. 10000 on two advocates for disclosing the identity of the prosecutrix’s mother in the petition and in the cause title.

The division bench has imposed a cost as the advocates had attached the photograph, emails, and charts.

The bench noted that despite the mandate of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act), the counsel for the petitioner had disclosed the identity.

The court therefore directed the counsel for the petitioner to deposit a sum of Rs. 10000 at the Kiritkar Law Library.

The division bench also directed to mask the identity from the petition. The court said,

“Accordingly, leave to amend is granted to the learned counsel for the petitioner to mask the name of the respondent No.2 (prosecutrix’s mother) in the cause title and wherever it appears in the petition and replace it with an alphabet. Amendment is also granted to remove the photographs annexed to the petition. The said amendment to be carried out forthwith”

The bench presided by Justice Revati Mohite Dere had earlier imposed a cost Rs. 5000 on the advocate of the petitioner for disclosing the identity of a rape victim.

In October 2022, the bench imposed a fine of Rs. 25000 on an advocate for annexing a highly objectionable image in the petition. The bench had noted,

“Whilst perusing the papers, we came across highly objectionable photographs annexed by the learned Counsel for the petitioner to the aforesaid petition. No sense of proportion or discretion is exercised by the learned Counsel whilst annexing the said photographs. Advocates fail to realize that these petitions are filed/placed before the Registry and get circulated through various departments, exposing the parties involved in the photographs”.