Women’s Charter 1961 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 11 · Offences Against Women and Girls
153. Trials in private in certain cases
Feedback & supportLast amended by an amending law of 2021. 3 amendments in all.
When any person is charged with or convicted of having committed any offence under this Part, or of having committed or attempted to commit or attempted to cause the commission of any offence under section 354, 354A, 375, 376, 376A, 376B, 376C, 376D, 376E, 376F, 376G or 377B of the Penal Code 1871 in respect of any woman or girl, the court conducting a preliminary inquiry into, or trying the offence, or hearing any appeal or special case or any point reserved in relation to the offence, may order that all proceedings before it are to be dealt with in private.
Whenever any such order is made, the court is not to be deemed an open court, and the court must order that no person is to have access to or be or remain in the court except such persons as are necessary for the purpose of the proceedings.
The court must order proceedings before it to be dealt with in private in any case where the girl in respect of whom an offence referred to in subsection (1) is alleged to have been committed has not attained 16 years of age.
A person must not publish or broadcast any information or picture referred to in the following paragraphs:
the name or address of any woman or girl in respect of whom an offence referred to in subsection (1) is alleged to have been committed;
any particulars given, in any proceedings in any court relating to an offence referred to in subsection (1), which identify, or are calculated to lead to the identification of, any woman or girl in respect of whom that offence is alleged to have been committed;
the name and address of any witness, in any proceedings in any court relating to an offence referred to in subsection (1), which may lead to the identification of any woman or girl in respect of whom that offence is alleged to have been committed;
the particulars of any evidence given by any witness, in any proceedings in any court relating to an offence referred to in subsection (1), which may lead to the identification of any woman or girl in respect of whom that offence is alleged to have been committed;
any picture of, or any picture including a picture of —
any woman or girl in respect of whom an offence referred to in subsection (1) is alleged to have been committed; or
any witness in any proceedings in any court relating to an offence referred to in subsection (1).
If any information or picture is published or broadcast in contravention of subsection (4) —
in the case of the publication of the information or picture as part of a newspaper or periodical publication, every proprietor, editor, publisher or distributor of the newspaper or periodical publication;
in the case of the publication of the information or picture otherwise than as part of a newspaper or periodical publication, the person who publishes or distributes the information or picture; or
in the case of the broadcast of the information or picture, every person who transmits or provides the programme in which the information or picture is broadcast, and every person having functions in relation to the programme corresponding to those of the editor of a newspaper or periodical publication,shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.
In this section —
“broadcast” means sounds or visual images —
broadcast by wireless telegraphy, or by means of a high frequency distribution system over wire or other paths provided by a material substance, and intended for general reception;
broadcast through the Internet or any website, web service or Internet application, whether or not intended for general reception; or
broadcast through any messaging system;
messaging system
“messaging system” means any system that enables the transmission of short text messages, or of any visual communication, voice communication or electronic mail —(a)from a digital mobile telephone to another digital mobile telephone; or(b)from an electronic mail address to a digital mobile telephone, and the other way around;
“publish”, in relation to any information or picture, means to bring the information or picture to the notice of the public or a section of the public by any means, including (to avoid doubt) through —
the Internet or any website, web service or Internet application; or
any messaging system.