Rahul Gandhi’s tweet revealing identity of minor rape victim violates law

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) hs informed the Delhi High Court that senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s tweet, which showed a photograph of the parents of a minor girl who was raped and killed in 2021, was “in violation” of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act.

The child body’s submission came in response to their plea seeking registration of FIR against Rahul Gandhi for tweeting a photograph of the parents of the nine-year-old Dalit girl who was allegedly raped and killed at a crematorium in Southwest Delhi in August 2021. Besides the JJ Act, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and the Indian Penal Code also make disclosing the identity of a minor victim of sexual assault a punishable offence, NCPCR said. In August 2021, Rahul tweeted about his meeting with the family of the minor girl who was allegedly raped, murdered and cremated without her parents’consent and shared a picture of him with the parents on Twitter.

In its reply, NCPCR said that after it received a complaint related to the incident, keeping in view the “serious offence” committed by Gandhi, the body had forwarded the complaint to the Delhi Police and Twitter for the removal of the post in question and for taking necessary action against his Twitter handle, reported The Indian Express.“It is further respectfully submitted before this Hon’ble Court that for the respondent no.4 (Twitter) to fully give effect to its obligations, the impugned post was ought to be removed from its platform and not be hidden only from the Indian internet domain. The object is to conceal the identity of the minor girl child and hence, merely hiding the post in question from Indian domain shall not suffice the purpose of hiding the identity of the victim. True meaning and effect has to be given in letter and spirit to Right to Privacy and Right to dignity as guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” it further stated.