New Delhi: The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Monday approached the Delhi High Court seeking guidelines on trying cases of sexual harassment at home of children and women by relatives.

Appearing on behalf of the DCW, Aparna Bhatt filed a public interest litigation (PIL) pointed out the lack of proper guidelines to tackle such cases and said many of these cases do not get reported due to the family pressure.

“Most of the accused persons get acquitted during the trial as in these cases witnesses are family members themselves, who retract their earlier statements and the court has no option but to acquit the person,” Bhatt told reporters.

The petition said even the Criminal Procedure Code (CRPC) does not have any provision under which such cases involving relatives can be tried, based only on the statement of the victim. A division bench headed by Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S Murlidhar issued notice to the Delhi government and sought reply by July 9.

Source : IANS