Anna University rape case: Central govt dept blames technical glitches for FIR leak

The FIR in the alleged rape of the student at Chennai's Anna University was leaked and the central government's National Informatics Centre (NIC) said that it was due to technical glitches which sprung as a result of migration from Indian Penal Code (IPC) to Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS).

The Tamil Nadu police in a letter to the NIC requested the blocking views to the FIR view for sensitive cases, especially those involving crimes against women and children.

R Arul Mozhi Varman, senior director and scientist at NIC, said that the leak might have occurred due to technical issues and the migrations of the IPC data to the BNS platform which failed to block the FIR.

In a letter, he said that the "View FIR' page of the Tamil Nadu police has been implemented with with a logic to block the viewing of FIRs under sensitive sections/subsections like the BNSS 64, 67, 68, 70, and 79 as listed by the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) as per the report by The New Indian Express.

The NIC has revisited the code and requested the SCRB team to conduct a thorough review of all possible vulnerabilities on the 'View FIR' page related to the aforementioned sensitive sections.

Based on the survivor's complaint alleging rape in Anna University campus on December 23, evening, a case was registered at the Kottupuram All Women police station. The offender, 37-year-old Gnanasekaran, who runs a roadside eatery in Kotturpuram near the university, was arrested on December 25.

The FIR was downloaded from the Tamil Nadu police website and broadcast by certain media outlets.

The Madras High Court on December 28 constituted an all-woman Special Investigation Team (SIT) of three IPS officers to probe both the sexual assault of the student and the leak of the FIR.

A vacation bench of justices, S M Subramaniam and V Lakshminarayanan criticised Greater Chennai Police Commissioner A Arun for disclosing important details of the delicate case. The bench urged the Tamil Nadu government to look into the matter and take all necessary legal action against the Additional DGP-rank officer.

Although the court acknowledged that victim shaming was made possible by the FIR leak, it insisted that no woman should be subjected to such treatment and that males should be taught to respect women instead of instructing them how to act.

According to the report, the Greater Chennai Police's cyber crime wing has registered a separate FIR against two TV news channels for revealing the identity of the student and other sensitive details relating to the case. The Supreme Court has clear guidelines about maintaining the secrecy of such FIRs. The case has been booked under sections 72 and 67(a) of the IT Act.