Blitz Bureau
THE Delhi High Court recently ruled that all proceedings, including bail proceedings, under the Scheduled Castes and Schedules Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989 (SC/ST Act) should be video-graphed even if the alleged offences involve sexual crimes against women and children.
Justice Vikas Mahajan held that Section 15A(10) of the SC/ST Act, which mandates the video recording of proceedings, does not carve out any exception as regards sexual offences, reports Bar and Bench. The court was hearing a bail petition filed by one Laxmi Narayan, who is accused of the rape and murder of a minor girl belong ing to a Scheduled Caste community.
He was booked for rape (Section 376) and murder (Section 302) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), aggravated penetrative sexual assault under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) and sexual atrocities against a woman under Section 3 of the SC/ST Act.
The complaint against him was lodged by the victim girl’s father. The accused moved a bail application before the Patiala House Court which was rejected. Subsequently, he moved the Delhi High Court.
During the bail hearings, the complainant-father submitted that in view of Section 15A (10) of the Act, all proceedings relating to offences under the Act, including the present one, have to be video recorded.
