New Delhi: The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) informed the Delhi High Court on Thursday that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s social media posts “revealing the identity” of a minor Dalit girl who was allegedly raped and killed in 2021 violated the law protecting the victim’s identity. The child rights organisation made its case before the court in an affidavit submitted in response to a petition requesting the registration of a FIR against Gandhi for sharing an image of the victim with her parents, which led to her identification.
In its affidavit, the NCPCR stated that Rahul Gandhi’s act of posting the photo of the victim on social media was in violation of the Juvenile Justice Act, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, and the Indian Penal Code. These laws consider the disclosure of a minor victim’s identity a punishable offence. The NCPCR further informed the High Court that it had taken action by forwarding the complaint to the Delhi Police and Twitter, requesting the removal of the post and appropriate measures to be taken against Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter handle due to the serious nature of the offence committed by the senior Congress leader.
A nine-year-old Dalit girl died under dubious circumstances on August 1, 2021, in southwest Delhi’s Old Nangal hamlet, and her parents claimed she was raped and killed. The micro blogging network “X” earlier asserted that there was no record of the controversial tweet in the petition since it was “geo-blocked” and not available in India.
Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula, presiding over a bench, scheduled the petition for a further hearing on November 23.
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