Guj HC seeks DGPs reply on legal aid arrangements at police stations for victims of sexual assault
Ahmedabad Feb 23 PTI The Gujarat High Court has sought the director general of polices DGP response on the compliance of the Supreme Courts direction for police stations to keep a list of advocates to provide legal assistance to the victims of sexual assault In its order last week the division bench of Justices Sonia Gokani and Aniruddha Mayee observed that the Apex courts order regarding legal representation for complainants of sexual assault cases at the police station is often observed in breach As per the Supreme Courts order the victim should be provided with legal assistance at the police station where an advocate would explain to her the nature of the proceedings prepare her for the case and assist her at the police station and in court A list of advocates willing to act in these cases should be kept at police stations for victims who do not have a particular lawyer in mind or whose own lawyer is unavailable The advocate would also provide the victim with guidance on obtaining help about mind counselling or medical assistance etc the 1995 order of the Supreme Court stated The High Court said that while hearing the present case of the victim of sexual violence it found that even the investigating officer pleaded her ignorance about the said order of the Apex court There is no list of empanelled advocates noticed in the police stations the court observed in its order The bench directed the DGP to file an affidavit for the purpose of issuing necessary circular direction or notification for every police station of the state to maintain for effective implementation of the directions issued in 1995 without further loss of time it said The minor daughter of the petitioner had gone missing on June 10 2021 after which she approached Visnagar police station in the states Mehsana district with the request to lodge an FIR The victim was found to be have been kept in illegal custody and sexually abused and her medical report revealed that she was 10-weeks pregnant The victim and her parents then urged that the foetus be terminated which was allowed under the provisions of the Termination of Pregnancy Act The court allowed the corpus to join her parents as per her wishes and directed the authorities to provide her legal aid PTI KA ARU ARU
Ahmedabad Feb 23 PTI The Gujarat High Court has sought the director general of polices DGP response on the compliance of the Supreme Courts direction for police stations to keep a list of advocates to provide legal assistance to the victims of sexual assault In its order last week the division bench of Justices Sonia Gokani and Aniruddha Mayee observed that the Apex courts order regarding legal representation for complainants of sexual assault cases at the police station is often observed in breach As per the Supreme Courts order the victim should be provided with legal assistance at the police station where an advocate would explain to her the nature of the proceedings prepare her for the case and assist her at the police station and in court A list of advocates willing to act in these cases should be kept at police stations for victims who do not have a particular lawyer in mind or whose own lawyer is unavailable The advocate would also provide the victim with guidance on obtaining help about mind counselling or medical assistance etc the 1995 order of the Supreme Court stated The High Court said that while hearing the present case of the victim of sexual violence it found that even the investigating officer pleaded her ignorance about the said order of the Apex court There is no list of empanelled advocates noticed in the police stations the court observed in its order The bench directed the DGP to file an affidavit for the purpose of issuing necessary circular direction or notification for every police station of the state to maintain for effective implementation of the directions issued in 1995 without further loss of time it said The minor daughter of the petitioner had gone missing on June 10 2021 after which she approached Visnagar police station in the states Mehsana district with the request to lodge an FIR The victim was found to be have been kept in illegal custody and sexually abused and her medical report revealed that she was 10-weeks pregnant The victim and her parents then urged that the foetus be terminated which was allowed under the provisions of the Termination of Pregnancy Act The court allowed the corpus to join her parents as per her wishes and directed the authorities to provide her legal aid PTI KA ARU ARU
