Gender Sensitive Policing Needed

Handling of the Anna University sexual assault underscores the gaps in tackling such crimes

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Sexual assault cases call for sensitive handling of survivors, more so by the State, as it attempts to investigate and deliver justice.

The Madras high court's scathing reprimand of the Tamil Nadu Police for foisting part of the blame for the Anna University sexual assault on the survivor herself in its FIR, therefore, doesn't seem undeserved.

The language of the FIR, a copy of which was leaked to the media, and the callous publishing of the survivor's details online, are not just anathema to justice in this particular case but also underscore persistent gaps in gender-sensitive policing.

Experts have long held rape as much a crime against the psyche as against the physiology of the survivor.