#India-Towards a Decisive Victory in the Historic Battle for Women’s Rights

Agencies

Posted On Monday, January 14, 2013

Punjab Police drew criticism from all quarters, including the victim’s kin, after it revealed the name of the 30-year old woman who was abducted and gang raped on Friday night.

The police released the victim’s name in a press note on Sunday. According to reports, the press note was issued after the First Information Report (FIR) was lodged by police on the basis of complaints.
According to lawyer Rahul Verma, naming a rape victim is a punishable offence under Section 228 (a) of the Indian Penal Code.
“The provision is clear; it says nobody can publish the victim’s name in such cases.
Recently, the Supreme Court, in connection with the Delhi gangrape, said no name has to be disclosed, because there is a social stigma that exists in our society,“ he said.
Meanwhile, the incident has spurred an outpouring of anger from women in the state.
“There is a sense of insecurity all the time, we feel threatened. There has been outrage over the Delhi gang rape and another similar incident has occurred here. It shows that women are not safe anywhere,” said Daljeet Kaur, a resident of Pathankot.
Police have arrested six people so far, including the bus driver and conductor.
The woman was travelling by bus to her village when the driver and his assistant drove her to a deserted location and raped her.
Five more people reportedly joined them later and assaulted the woman in a house. They then dropped her off near her village the next morning. The victim went home before going to a police station to file a complaint.