India, Jan. 27 -- The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Madras high court's direction to the Tamil Nadu police for initiating departmental inquiry into the leak of a first information report (FIR) related to the sexual assault of a second-year engineering student on the Anna University campus in Chennai. The FIR leak, which disclosed sensitive personal details of the victim, had been a focal point of the high court's critical remarks against the police in its December 28 order.

A bench comprising justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma also stayed the high court's adverse observations against the state police. However, the bench clarified that the special investigation team (SIT), constituted by the high court to probe the case...