Calcutta High Court asks CBI to look into 'very nasty' online posts on RG Kar rape and murder victim

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to examine hateful social media posts featuring photos of the RG Kar Medical College rape and murder victim..The Court was hearing a plea flagging some abominable posts floating on social media related to the victim.After going through the social media posts presented by the petitioner's counsel, a Bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice H Bhattacharyya issued notice to the CBI and observed,"Since CBI has taken over the investigation, they should check if something can be done. Very nasty comments are written with picture of the victim. We will ask advocate to serve copies. You (CBI) examine. We will list the matter with other pleas. On September 18 we will hear.".The Court, at the outset, noted that all matters concerning the rape and murder incident would be taken up on September 18, as the top court is hearing its suo motu case on the issue."We made an appeal in our order dated August 20...there are several people who post videos on Youtube. How will the State be regulating that? Is there any mechanism?" the Court queried.The petitioner's counsel contended that despite court orders, the local police was not taking adequate steps to curb such posts."People are putting abominable comments. If this goes unchecked, it will affect the social fabric of the State," the counsel added..He further argued that these online posts were being used to target a specific community, exacerbating the harm caused by the hateful content."Only Muslim names are being used for the handlers. They may or may not be real persons," the counsel contended.Taking into consideration the same, the Court asked CBI to examine the issue and submit a report on the next date of hearing..Notably, the Supreme Court had recently directed all news and social media platforms to remove the name, photos, videos and other details of the deceased 31-year old resident doctor.