Revealing minor rape-murder victim's relatives' identity: Rahul Gandhi informs Delhi HC of taking down tweet

New Delhi [India], January 24 (ANI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday informed the Delhi High Court that the said tweet has been taken down internationally which allegedly revealed the identity of the minor rape-murder victim's relatives.
Noted the submissions, the bench headed by Acting Chief Justice closes the proceeding in the matter. The court was hearing a PIL which sought directions to Twitter and the Delhi Police to take action against Rahul Gandhi's tweet allegedly revealing the identity of the relatives of a rape and murder victim.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police apprised the court that an FIR was registered in September 2021 against Rahul Gandhi for his tweet, on the basis of a complaint received by the Registrar of NCPCR and an initial FIR was registered in August 2021 against the accused persons under the IPC and POCSO Act which is pending trial and charges are yet to be framed in the case.
Earlier, the Delhi High Court had asked Delhi Police to submit its status report within 10 days in the petition filed against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in relation to his tweet revealing the identity of the relatives of the minor's rape and murder victim in 2021.
During the arguments earlier, Advocate Swarupma Chaturvedi appeared for the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and submitted that the Delhi Police must register an FIR in the case but even though the incident happened nearly three years back, no action has been taken by the Delhi Police. Action must be taken under POCSO, JJ and IPC, as we have suggested. It's about a 9-year-old girl child.
The predecessor bench had earlier issued notice to Twitter made "explicitly clear" that no notice is being issued to other respondents.
Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya earlier appeared for Twitter had informed the Court that "nothing survived" in the petition as the tweet in question was taken down.
Earlier the Twitter counsel had submitted that Rahul Gandhi's tweet violated our policy, we have already removed that tweet and his Twitter account was also blocked for some time.
Earlier the bench had also refused to issue notice to Gandhi and Delhi Police on the public interest litigation (PIL) at this stage.
The petitioner Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar claimed to be a social activist had approached Delhi HC seeking its intervention for appropriate legal action against Rahul Gandhi for allegedly disclosing sensitive information about a rape victim and her family members by publishing a photograph of her parents on his Twitter handle.
The Petitioner stated that Rahul Gandhi has violated section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and section 23(2) of the POCSO Act, 2012, both of which mandate that the identity of a child victim of a crime shall not be disclosed. The law in this regard is very well-settled in a catena of judgments including in the case of Nipun Saxena v Union Of India wherein it was held by the Supreme Court of India, that the name, address, school or other particulars which may lead to the identification of the child in conflict with law/victim cannot be disclosed in the media. No picture of such a child, or any such particular which can directly or indirectly disclose her identity, can be published. A child who is not in conflict with the law but is a victim of an offence especially a sexual offence needs this protection even more, plea read.
In August 2021, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met the family of the minor girl who was allegedly raped, murdered, and cremated without her parents' consent in Delhi's Old Nangal crematorium. After meeting with the family, he assured his support to the family. Rahul Gandhi also tweeted about his meeting and shared a picture of him with the victim's parents on Twitter. (ANI)