The High Court of Karnataka on Saturday directed that no person, individual, group, association or political party should visit the victim of the Belagavi stripping incident at the hospital without the prior written permission of the medical officer in charge of the hospital or the doctor treating her.
However, this restriction would 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 made it clear.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice Prasanna B. Varale and Justice Krishna S. Dixit passed the order in a special sitting held in the chambers after the Chief Justice spotted a news clip on a private television about the visit of a delegation of a political party to the vicitm. The court on December 12 had suo motu taken cognisance of the incident.
“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,” the Bench observed in its order.
The Bench said that the court normally would not like to restrict the freedom of movement of any citizen as the visit of people to the hospital to see the victim, in the circumstances, is not unusual. However, the Bench said, in the present case “it is appropriate to restrict the visitors in the best interest of the victim and to secure undisturbed medical treatment”.
