Delhi High Court stays trial court case against BJP spokesperson booked for disclosing details of POCSO victim

The Delhi High Court on Thursday stayed proceedings against Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor in a case filed against him for sharing a copy of the first information report (FIR) in a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act case on social media.

Justice Ravinder Dudeja said that the trial court proceedings will be kept in abeyance till the High Court hears the case on March 23, 2026.

In June 2021, Kapoor came under police scrutiny and was booked under the POCSO Act for sharing the FIR copy.

The case stemmed from the arrest of a 42-year-old woman accused of sexually assaulting and threatening a minor girl. Kapoor posted not only the FIR, but also images of the accused. The Police said that it was illegal to disclose sensitive details about victims in such cases. It thus registered an FIR under POCSO Act.

Recently, the trial court charged Kapoor with an offence under Section 23 of the POCSO Act. The provision bars disclosing details of POCSO victims and says that offenders can be jailed for up to a year for violation.

Senior Advocate Pavan Narang appeared for Kapoor today and stated that screenshots uploaded by him are not even legible, and that it was impossible to ascertain the name of the victim from its contents.

"No person reading the tweet could have known the details/contents of the screenshot," he said

After hearing the arguments, Justice Dudeja said that the proceedings will be kept in abeyance.