Hathras rape case: CBI removes FIR under IPC sections for gangrape, murder from website hours after uploading it

New Delhi: Hours after uploading the Hathras rape case FIR on its website, the CBI removed it, sensing possible violation of a Supreme Court order that FIRs in cases of rape and sexual assault should not be put in public domain by police.

The agency, however, did not retract or remove its media statement from the website.

The FIR withheld the name of the Hathras victim, concealed using a whitening ink, but it was decided to withdraw the FIR from public domain to avoid unnecessary controversy, sources said.

In December 2018, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur directed the print and electronic media to not reveal the identity of victims of rape and sexual assault “even in a remote manner”.

The apex court also said that FIRs in cases of rape and sexual assault, including those against minors, should not be put in public domain by police.

The issue had cropped up when the court was hearing a batch of petitions filed after the rape and murder of a paramedic student on 16 December, 2012, in New Delhi to support the initiatives on women’s safety across the country.

The CBI took over the Hathras investigation from Uttar Pradesh Police this week. A 19-year-old Dalit girl was alleged gangraped and murdered in a village in the Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh on September 14.

The CBI registered an FIR early on Sunday under IPC sections related to gang rape and murder among others, and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, officials said.

It assigned the case to its Ghaziabad unit with a special team to investigate the crime, they said.

The victim succumbed to injuries at a Delhi hospital on 29 September, which was followed by a hushed up cremation at night allegedly forced by the district administration. The UP government later requested a CBI probe.