High Court takes Suo Motu cognizance of Sexual Assault on 3-year old girl; issues notice to Delhi Police, Edu Dept

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Synopsis

High Court has taken suo moto cognizance of the sexual assault on a three-year-old girl allegedly by a cleaner working in a school in South Delhi

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday took suo moto cognizance of the sexual assault on a three-year-old girl allegedly by a cleaner working in a school in South Delhi.

“It has been brought to the notice of this Court by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Subramonium Prasad, a news item published in the Times of India in respect of a three year old girl child who was sexually assaulted by a school cleaner in South Delhi”, a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Saurabh Banerjee noted.

The court said, let a Suo motu PIL be registered based on the newspaper report.

“Let a status report be filed positively within two weeks from today in respect of action taken in the matter by the Delhi Police as well as by the Education Department, GNCTD,” the bench directed.

“Mr. Santosh Tripathi, learned counsel appearing on behalf of Government of NCT of Delhi, while filing the status report, will mask the name of the girl child as well as the names of the parents of the girl child, and shall undertake all necessary measures to protect the identity and right to privacy of the girl child. He shall take care that the media acts in compliance with the statutory provisions as contained in Section 23 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act), 2012”, the court said in its order dated August 2.

The matter has been posted for hearing on September 1. 

According to the Times of India report, the alleged 33-year-old accused Arjun Kumar is a resident of Old Gautam Budh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh. A case under sections 376 (punishment for rape) and 377 (unnatural offences) of the IPC and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has been filed against Kumar.

Case Title: Court on its own motion v. Government of NCT of Delhi