NEW DELHI: In a heart rending plea, a person acquitted of rape charges has moved the Supreme Court seeking restoration of his lost dignity and honour.

If the Nirbhaya case sensitized politicians, police, judiciary and media on security of women as well as not revealing the identity of a rape victim, the man who was acquitted in the similarly sensational Mayapuri rape presented to the court how a person framed in a sexual assault case faced ignominy and was treated with suspicion by society and police.

Niranjan Kumar Mandal , who spent four years in jail before being set free, told the court that he was treated as an outcast even after his acquittal.

The 2006 Mayapuri rape had shocked the capital as a hearing and speech impaired pregnant woman was sexually assaulted in a moving car. The petitioner, who was running a diagnostic centre, was in jail for more than four years before a trial court acquitted him.

Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Wills Mathews argued before a bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana P Desai on Friday that his client was not against media publishing news about his arrest as they were discharging their professional duty on the basis of information provided by the police.

"However, the petitioner is impleading some of the most reputed newspapers and the Press Council of India to explore the possibilities of helping/assisting the petitioner to put his life back on track," Mathews said. The bench issued notice to several newspapers and TV channels.

Mandal said no newspaper or TV channel reported his acquittal. This resulted in a situation where residents of his locality still believed he was guilty and no one spoke to him or his family members.

He said his children were bright students but since his arrest, they were treated differently by society and neighbours prevented their children from mixing with his kids. "My wife and children suffered a lot of humiliation and suffering, seriously affecting their life and education," he added.

"Everyone is looking down upon the petitioner taking him to be the one who brought disgrace to the locality. The residents of the locality still believe that the petitioner had committed the heinous crime and that he was released after completing the jail term awarded to him as punishment," the petition said.

Mandal said after acquittal, he felt as if he was pushed into a bigger jail. "After the acquittal, I had great hope of getting back to the mainstream. But I gradually found that there was nothing to be happy about. All the machinery and equipment of my diagnostic centre had rusted. Neighbours looked with suspicion and never allowed their children to mix with my children," he said.

The petitioner requested the court to find a way out to restore his lost dignity and respect in society. "The action of the media in telecasting or publishing the news connected with the petitioner’s arrest in Mayapuri rape case was based on the police version and was neither willful nor deliberate. But the poor petitioner seeks to live with dignity and honour," Mandal’s petition said.

