Notice to TV channels, social media sites for disclosing name of veterinarian
Irked over disclosing the identity of a 25-year-old woman veterinarian, who was raped and murdered near here, besides airing images of the accused, some news channels and social media sites, the police on Tuesday (December 3) issued notices to them with a direction to stop it.
The Cyberabad police, probing the case, also said some print and electronic media also telecast and published documents related to the probe on news channels, papers and social media, which hampered the investigation. Hence they have issued notices under section 149 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) asking them to stop telecasting such content.
According to a senior police official, “Some TV news channels and social media users are continously telecasting and posting photos of the victim, the accused and also the documents related to the investigation. We are talking to such TV channels and issued notices asking them to stop telecasting it.. also spoke to (representatives of) social media companies to delete such contents from their platforms.
Subsequently, the Cyberabad police had appealed to the media not to telecast continuously programmes on the gruesome murder of the woman and avoid use of her name as it suggested the hashtag “#Justice for Disha” in the social media.
The media has been requested to stop forthwith further telecasting of video clippings, photographs of the accused and investigative documents in order to avoid hampering collection of evidence during the course of investigation and also prevent any cognisable offence in the interest of justice.
The charred body of the woman, working as an assistant veterinarian at a state-run hospital was found under a culvert in Shadnagar near here on November 28 morning a day after she went missing.
The four men, all lorry workers, aged between 20 and 24, were arrested on November 29 for allegedly raping and killing the woman by smothering her and later burning her body. They were sent to judicial custody for 14 days and are presently lodged in solitary confinement in high-security cells in the Cherlapally Central Prison here and put under heightened surveillance.
Section 149 of the CrPC empowers police officers to prevent cognisable offences. A cognisable offence is an act where police can make arrest without a warrant.
Meanwhile, a 22-year-old man was on Tuesday arrested for allegedly making vulgar comments on the social media about the woman veterinarian.
On November 30, the cyber crime police registered a suo moto case after some unknown people uploaded photos of the victim of sexual violence and made vulgar and objectionable comments about her, a senior police official said. The posts were very derogatory, obscene and vulgar, they said. A case was registered and during the course of investigation the police identified the accused from Nizamabad and arrested him.
(With inputs from agencies)
