Rape Victim's Name Disclosure: Delhi HC fines 12 media houses

An Indian court yesterday ordered 12 media companies to pay $15,000 each to a compensation fund for victims of sexual violence after they published the name of an eight-year-old girl who was gang raped and murdered.

Indian law prohibits the naming of rape victims, even after they have died, because of the stigma attached to the crime.

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The New Delhi High Court ordered each firm to pay one million rupees within a week to be used for a compensation scheme for sexual assault victims.

The law provides for a jail term of two years along with a fine in case of violations.

The name of the child, who was killed in Jammu and Kashmir state's Rasana village and has since become the focus of national protests over rape cases in India, was used by several media outlets before a court ordered a clampdown last Friday.

Lawyers for the media firms told the court the mistake happened due to their ignorance of the law and a misconception that they could name her as she was dead, Press Trust of India reported.

The girl, who belonged to a Muslim nomadic community, was kidnapped, drugged and raped over five days at a Hindu temple before being bludgeoned to death in January.

The case has dominated news headlines after the harrowing details of the attack were released by police.

Many media houses not only revealed her name but also published her photo, which also contravened the law. Pictures of the girl have also been used on banners at many protests across India.

MUSLIMS FLEE J&K VILLAGE

There are no Muslims left in the village of Rasana, which has become a symbol of India's rape crisis after the brutal murder of the eight-year-old Muslim girl blamed on Hindu men.

Police say the girl was raped and killed as part of an attempt by some of the village's majority Hindus to evict Bakarwal Muslim nomads, who graze their cattle in the hills in the summer months.

It seems to have worked: the girl's family have headed for the Kashmir hills under police protection. Other Muslim families in the community of around 100 people all left after the rape in January.

At the empty home of the dead girl's family, five armed police kept guard half asleep in chairs outside.

Her anonymous grave in orange earth partially covered by weeds is in a nearby village in Kathua district, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) from the region's main city Jammu.

Media reports said Hindus in Rasana refused to allow the girl to be buried there.

In Rasana, the village's few remaining inhabitants are reluctant to speak to outsiders. "Since all this happened, the village has emptied," according to 39-year-old Yash Paul Sharma, a rare resident willing to talk.

He said Rasana had gone through a "nightmare" as the place of the killing and the intense scrutiny it has faced since.

The main accused in the case is Sanji Ram, a leader of the rustic pink temple in Rasana where the girl was allegedly held captive.

A minor and a local police constable are among those charged with the killing, while three police officials have been charged with accepting bribes to cover up the case.

Meanwhile, India's President Ram Nath Kovind, a member of the marginalised Dalit community, yesterday called the rape and murder "heinous" and "barbaric".

"It is the collective responsibility of all of us to ensure such a thing does not happen with any girl in any part of the country," he said.

The incident was also condemned by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the UN Women agency, who urged Indian authorities to do more to counter sexual violence in the country.

"There have been too many such atrocities and too often it is women and girls who are deliberately targeted, instilling fear and building divides," she said in a statement.