NCPCR supports PIL in Delhi High Court seeking action against Rahul Gandhi for revealing identity of child rape victim

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) told the Delhi High Court on Friday that it is joining hands with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petitioner in seeking legal action against Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi for allegedly revealing the identity of a 9-year-old Dalit girl who was raped and killed in a crematorium in Delhi..A counsel appearing for the NCPCR told the court that even though Gandhi’s tweet has been withheld by Twitter in India, the offence still survives..The submission was made by NCPCR’s counsel before a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad which was hearing a PIL filed by one Makrand Suresh Mhadlekar taking exception to Gandhi's tweets which had photos of the parents of the deceased girl..Mhadlekar had said that these photos would reveal the identity of the victim girl and are consequently, in violation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act (JJ Act) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.He added that as per Section 74 of Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and Section 23(2) of POCSO Act, 2012, there is a mandate to not disclose the identity of the victim or his family members..Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya appeared for Twitter today and told the court that the tweet in question has been geo-blocked in India but it is not possible for them to block it across the world.Poovayya said that nearly 50 crore tweets are made on Twitter almost on a daily basis and, therefore, it is not possible to block all tweets which might have retweeted Gandhi’s post..Though the NCPCR counsel asked the court to issue notice to them, the bench said it will deal with the matter on the next date as the petitioner has engaged a new counsel..The court then listed the case for further consideration on December 7..The 9-year-old girl had gone to fetch water at a cooler installed at a crematorium in Delhi's Purana Nangal area when the priest at the crematorium along with three others committed the brutal act.Gandhi had subsequently visited the parents of the girl and photos of him consoling them were tweeted from his official Twitter handle.On August 4, 2021, NCPCR took cognizance of the tweets and directed Twitter to take down the tweet by Gandhi, as it contained sensitive information about the family members of the rape victim..Twitter had subsequently suspended Gandhi's account..The plea before the High Court said that Gandhi was trying to take advantage of the unfortunate incident to boost his political image, by disclosing sensitive information about rape victim and his family members over his twitter handle.The plea stated that the said tweet attracts punishment of imprisonment for a period of six months or one year under Section 23(2) of POCSO Act.The petitioner prayed that direction should be issued to Delhi Police to register a first information report (FIR) against Gandhi under Section 23(4) of the POCSO Act and JJ Act.The plea also sought appropriate directions be issued to the NCPCR, to take necessary legal action against Gandhi.