Plea in Delhi High Court seeks FIR against Rahul Gandhi for disclosing identity of 9-year-old Dalit rape victim by tweeting photos of parents

A plea has been filed before the Delhi High Court seeking legal action against Congress leader and Wayanad MP, Rahul Gandhi, for allegedly revealing identity of a 9-year-old Dalit girl who was raped and killed in a crematorium in Delhi (Makrand Suresh Mhadlekar v Rahul Gandhi)..The petition has been filed by one Makrand Suresh Mhadlekar taking exception to Gandhi's tweets which had photos of the parents of the deceased girl.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, the plea said. The petitioner submitted per section 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.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, National commission for Protection of Child Rights took cognizance of the tweets 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 National commission for Protection of Child Rights, to take necessary legal actions against Gandhi. .The petitioner is being represented by Advocate Gautam Jha, Pankaj Kumar and Sweta Jha.