Rape victims: SHC puts media on notice
By Tahir Siddiqui
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday put the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), president of the Karachi Press Club and editors of leading newspapers on notice on a petition seeking protection of privacy of child rape victims during coverage of such incidents by electronic and print media organisations.
A division bench headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed was seized with a petition filed by Society of Protection of Rights of Child that sought implementation of Juvenile Justice System Ordinance (JJSO) that protects identification of child victims.
The SPRC’s representative, Abdullah Khoso, had submitted a letter to the SHC chief justice on the issue which was later converted into a constitutional petition by the court.
The petitioner said the privacy and dignity of the child victim should not be violated while reporting rape cases in the media.
He said the miseries of the victims and their families were compounded in case their identities were revealed by print and electronic media organisations.
He referred to several media reports on rape victims and stated that their identities were being revealed in spite of section 8 of JJSO that envisaged the protection of identity of a child victim.
Meanwhile, a division bench directed the police to produce Ali Hasan Brohi, an ex-manager of President Asif Zardari’s father Hakim Ali Zardari, before the court.
The direction came on the petition filed by Mr Brohi’s wife who sought protection of her spouse from arrest in certain criminal cases.
Source: Dawn
Date:1/19/2011
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