While the lone accused in the Anna university rape case was convicted on Wednesday, May 28, the three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Madras High Court continues to investigate the case of ‘leak’ of the First Information Report (FIR) pertaining to the case, for which a separate FIR was filed, sources said.
The SIT was mandated by the Madras High Court to probe both cases, according to a report by The New Indian Express.
Sources said the team will soon file a report on the FIR leak case and a formal statement will be issued regarding it.
The investigation by the SIT regarding the case evoked criticism after multiple journalists, who downloaded the FIR from the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) portal where it was available for a brief period of time without disclosing sensitive details, said they were harassed by the SIT.
Journalists said they were forced to hand over their personal mobile phones without notice, giving the investigation team unbridled access to personal and professional information, including details of their sources. The investigation team later stopped this method of investigation after the Madras HC directed the SIT not to harass journalists in the name of inquiry, in February this year.
The FIR filed by Kotturpuram police station on December 24 which had details of the complaint filed by the victim had been downloaded from the Tamil Nadu police’s CCTNS portal.
The Greater Chennai police commissioner A Arun had then addressed the issue during a press meet and said technical glitches could have prevented the FIR from being automatically unavailable for download, which is what usually happens in cases involving rape and other sensitive matters.
The TN government had told the Supreme Court that the FIR was exposed inadvertently due to the migration from Indian Penal Code (IPC) to the newly brought in Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, as per the report by The New Indian Express.
