Court challenge to law that bars naming accused in rape cases

An anti-gender-based violence (GBV) activist is challenging a law that prohibits publicly naming an accused charged with rape or other sexual offences before they have pleaded in court.

Caroline Peters, founder of the Callas Foundation, wants the relevant section of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) declared unconstitutional and invalid. She says it “constitutes a tool to silence women from speaking out against sexual offences”.

“This constitutes indirect discrimination against women, who are primarily the victims of sexual violence, and thus violates the Constitution on the grounds of sex and gender,” she says.

Peters, who is being represented by the Women’s Legal Centre, has filed her application in the Western Cape high court against the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services. This comes as Peters herself faces charges for naming a person accused of rape in photographs she posted on social media.

She has cited the accused, who was charged in August 2021 but has not yet pleaded, as the second respondent in the application. The accused’s name has been redacted to comply with the provisions of the Act, referring to him only as Mr G.

Peters says her activism is rooted in her own experience of being gang raped when she was 15 years old. “More than three decades later, this memory remains vivid in my mind and has shaped the work I do to serve and protect the rights of women who become victims of sexual violence,” she says in court papers.

She says her Foundation’s core function is to provide court support for victims in a bid to reduce secondary victimisation through drawn-out cases and to ensure their rights are protected.

In the case of Mr G, Peters says she assisted the complainant and had attended the court hearing in October 2021. While waiting outside, Peters took a photograph of the court roll pasted on the passage wall, “clearly visible” to the public.