High Court issues guidelines to investigating officers, court on handling sexually explicit evidence

Kochi: The Superior Tribunal has issued guidelines to tribunals, police and investigating officers to deal with electronic tests that may contain information or sexually explicit material. In the case of the attack on the actress in 2017, instructions were issued to order an investigation into the change in the hash value of the memory card.

“We do not protect the interests of the victim, resulting in violation of her fundamental constitutional right,” the Superior Tribunal said while ordering Ernakulam District and Sessions Judge to conduct an investigation. Judge K Babu said only investigation into the allegation of unauthorized access to the memory card would remove the “cloud hanging over the judicial system”.

Due to the absence of rules guiding police agencies, experts and tribunals on the management of sensitive electronic records that may contain such material, tribunals have established guidelines for dealing with sexually explicit material. It also urged the Central and state governments to “make necessary rules for the safe management of electronic records, which may contain sexually explicit material”.