HC restricts visitors to Belagavi assault victim

PTI, Dec 17, 2023, 9:25 AM IST

The High Court of Karnataka has restricted the stream of people visiting the Belagavi assault victim.

The woman was assaulted by a few people of her village after her son eloped with a girl and also paraded naked. Considering the trauma she is undergoing, the HC said the continuous stream of people visiting her should be restricted.

”The visit of people to the hospital to see the victim, in the circumstances, is not unusual. This Court normally would not like to restrict the freedom of movement of any citizen; however, considering the fact that the victim has suffered unbearable trauma and she has been undergoing medical treatment, in our considered opinion, the flow of visitors is likely to affect the health condition of the victim and disturb the ongoing medical treatment as well,” Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale said in his order on Saturday.

So the HC directed restrictions. ”Therefore, we deem it appropriate to restrict the visitors in the best interests of the victim and to secure undisturbed medical treatment. In the above backdrop, we direct that no person, individual, groups, associations, political parties, or the like shall visit the place of the victim except with the prior written permission of the medical officer in-charge of the hospital or the doctor treating the victim,” the order said.

In an urgent hearing in the judge’s chamber on Saturday, the Chief Justice issued the order after noticing a news report on television that, ”The Belagavi incident victim is to be visited by the representatives of National Human Rights Commission as well as by the delegation of a political party.” However, the HC said that ”the order shall not prevent the family members of the victim, the official representatives of Statutory Authorities/ Commissions or the Investigating Agencies to visit the victim in a need based manner.”

The Court, on December 12, on its own took cognisance of the news of the incident in a village in Hukkeri Taluk in Belagavi District. While hearing the petition on December 14, the HC had directed the personal presence of the Belagavi Commissioner in the Court on December 18 to file an additional report on the investigation into the incident. The Court had ordered that the offenders should be arrested immediately.