Mother of POCSO survivors moves Supreme Court against Telangana after accused given access to Section 164 statement of survivors

A mother of two young children, who were victims of sexual abuse by their own father, has filed a contempt of court petition before the Supreme Court against State of Telangana alleging violation of the top court's guidelines on Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).The plea said that the Telangana Police allowed the accused access to the statement of the two survivors recorded under Section 164 CrPC though chargesheet had not been filed in the matter.It was contended that this was in violation of the guidelines laid down by the apex court in the case of State of Karnataka v. Shivanna @ Tarkari Shivanna in which it was directed that the contents of such statement should not be disclosed till the filing of chargesheet.A bench of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit and Justice S Ravindra Bhat issued notice to the State on the plea and posted the case for further consideration on September 26..The petitioner contended that the statement of the victim recorded by the Magistrate under Section 164 CrPC was extensively relied upon by the accused in various proceedings."The investigation in all the above FIRs is pending and the chargesheet has not been filed yet and hence, there arises no occasion or opportunity for the Respondent No. 4 and 5 (accused persons) to get the copy of 164 Cr.P.C. statement and/or to know the contents of 164 Cr.P.C. statement and yet the Respondent No. 4 and Respondent No. 5 on multiple occasions not only referred to but also annexed the copy of the 164 Cr.P.C. statements during the course of proceedings before Trial Court," the petitioner said..The Supreme Court in State of Karnataka v. Shivanna @ Tarkari Shivanna had held that 164 CrPC statement of the victim is supreme and cannot be compromised in any manner.The petitioner underlined that Section 164 CrPC statement is the most crucial piece of evidence given by the survivor in sexual crimes and the fact that the accused persons got access to it during the pendency of the investigation raised serious concerns..The plea also referred to a Supreme Court order which had set aside the permission granted by the Allahabad High Court to the accused to access Section 164 CrPC statement.The top court had said in that order that the Allahabad High Court completely erred in appreciating the directions issued by apex court especially in a matter where the offences alleged against the accused were of sexual exploitation..The plea was drawn by advocates Tanya Agarwal and Shashank Singh and filed through advocate Anil Kumar..[Read Order]