57Prohibition of the publication of evidence and of names of

57 Prohibition of the publication of evidence and of names of parties and witnesses (1) Where it appears to any court: (a) that the publication of any evidence given or used or intended to be given or used, in any proceeding before the court, is likely to offend against public decency; or (b) that, for the furtherance of, or otherwise in the interests of, the administration of justice, it is desirable to prohibit the publication of the name of any party or intended party to, or witness or intended witness in, the proceeding; the court may, either before or during the course of the proceeding or thereafter, make an order: (i) directing that the persons specified (by name or otherwise) by the court, or that all persons, except the persons so specified, shall absent themselves from the place wherein the Court is being held while the evidence is being given; or (ii) forbidding the publication of the evidence, or any specified part thereof, or of any report or account of the evidence, or any specified part thereof, either absolutely or subject to such conditions, or in such terms or form, or in such manner, or to such extent, as the court approves; or (iii) forbidding the publication of the name of any such party or witness. (2) Where the court makes an order under subsection (1)(iii), the publication of any reference or allusion to any party or witness, the name of whom is by the order forbidden to be published, shall, if the reference or allusion is, in the opinion of the court hearing the complaint for the alleged offence, intended or is sufficient to disclose the identity of the party or witness, be deemed to be a publication of the name of the party or witness. Evidence Act 1939 45 (3) When the court makes an order under subsection (1)(ii) or (iii), forbidding the publication of any evidence or any report or account of any evidence, or the publication of any name, the court shall report the fact to the Director of Public Prosecutions, and shall embody in its report a statement of: (a) the evidence or name, as the case may be, by the order forbidden to be published; and (b) the circumstances in which the order was made.