The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the government to promulgate an act to protect the privacy of HIV-infected persons, women and children during trial in any court of law. The division bench of justices Khil Raj Regmi and Kalyan Shrestha ruled that “privacy of women, children and HIV-infected persons should be protected while filing FIR, deciding on any case and making public any decision”. Under the existing laws, identities of women, children and HIV-infected persons are revealed in cases related to rape, trafficking, relation establishment and divorce.

Women in such situation have to face wide-ranging discriminations because their private lives are often laid bare. Unscrupulous elements grab such opportunities and exploit those on trial every way imaginable. But most of those cases can be easily decided without revealing the barebones of the vulnerable defendants. Many countries already have in place such a legal protection net. This helps those pursuing a legal path return to their normal lives once they are through with the legal hassles. Absence of legal protection for the vulnerable section of the society only prevents them from seeking justice when they are in urgent need of it. But without having to wash their dirty linen in public, those hiding behind the closed doors for the fear of social and economic recriminations can finally be expected to seek the long-awaited justice.