Tweet of Rahul Gandhi disclosing identity of family of minor rape victim accessible outside India: NCPCR to Delhi HC

New Delhi: The tweet by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi disclosing the identity of minor rape victim's family is still accessible outside India, the National Commission for Child Rights (NCPCR) has told the Delhi High court.
The commission, in an affidavit filed before the Delhi High court, said that Twitter Inc. on the notice of NCPCR withheld the impugned post in India but not removed the post from Twitter, therefore the same tweet is available for the public to be seen outside India. This affidavit has been filed in a response to a PIL.
The response has been filed in a plea pending before the bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma.
In August 2021, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had met the family of the minor girl who was allegedly raped, murdered, and cremated without her parents' consent in Delhi's Old Nangal crematorium. After meeting with the family, he assured his support to the family. Rahul Gandhi also tweeted about his meeting and shared a picture of him with the victim's parents on Twitter.
It is also submitted that looking into the gravity of the offence and the direction of Courts in various cases, mere withholding of the said post in India shall not reduce the accountability of the Social Media Company Twitter Inc.
The response stated that the said post can still be accessed and still available in public domain throughout the world, consequently the inaction of the Twitter Inc contributes into disclosure of the identity of the victim, which is in violation of Indian laws.
The affidavit also mentioned that the NCPCR had received a complaint on August 4, 2021 in connection with a Twitter post made by Rahul Gandhi on his Twitter handle disclosing the identity of the family of minor girl victim who was allegedly raped, killed and forcefully cremated in Delhi.
The Commission was informed that a photo of minor girl victim's family has been posted with the caption stating that they are the father and the mother of the victim child on the Twitter Handle @RahulGandhi, it added.
In the said photo, the faces of the victim's father and mother could be seen which thereby revealed the identity of the minor girl victim, the response read, the response said.
It is also said that the NCPCR exercising its powers under the CPCR Act, 2005 and being the monitoring authority under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and Section 44 of the POCSO Act, 2012 had forwarded the complaint to Delhi Police and Twitter Inc. for removal of post and taking necessary action against the twitter handle of Rahul Gandhi.
The Delhi Police through their email of August 7, 2021 has informed that cognizance of the matter has been taken and the matter is under inquiry at Crime Branch, Delhi Police, the NCPCR said.
It is also stated that the Commission also issued a letter to Instagram for removal of post and take necessary action against the profile of Shri Rahul Gandhi as well.
It is also submitted by the NCPCR that the post made on the Twitter handle of Rahul Gandhi with the photo of the parents of victims family has been posted again by the verified account of Indian National Congress @INCindia on Twitter.
It has also been noticed that the said post has been largely retweeted and circulated on Twitter which continues to violate the provisions which prohibit the disclosure of identity of the victim. Necessary action to stop the circulation of the photo of the parents of the victim is also required to be taken in this regard, the affidavit said.
The Delhi High Court had sought response of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on plea filed against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in relation to his tweet revealing the identity of the relatives of minor's rape and murder victim in 2021.
Earlier, NCPCR counsel submitted that the commission wants to support and joint hand with petitioner in the matter. Lawyer had requested the court to issue notice in the matter so that it can file an affidavit as we believe that the offence survives.
The Delhi HC is presently examining a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking directions to Twitter and the Delhi Police to take action against Rahul Gandhi's tweet allegedly revealing the identity of the relatives of a rape and murder victim.
The predecessor bench had earlier issued notice to Twitter only made "explicitly clear" that no notice is being issued to others respondents.
Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya had earlier appeared for Twitter had informed the Court that “nothing survived” in the petition as the tweet in question was taken down.
Earlier, the Twitter counsel had submitted that Rahul Gandhi tweet violated our policy also, we have already removed that tweet and his twitter account was also blocked for some time.
Earlier the bench had also refused to issue notice to Gandhi and Delhi Police on the public interest litigation (PIL) at this stage.
The petitioner Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar, claimed to be a social activist, had approached Delhi HC seeking its intervention for appropriate legal action against Rahul Gandhi for allegedly disclosing sensitive information about a rape victim and her family members by publishing a photograph of her parents on his Twitter handle.
The Petitioner stated that Rahul Gandhi has violated section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and section 23(2) of the POCSO Act, 2012, both of which mandate that the identity of a child victim of a crime shall not be disclosed. The law in this regard is very well-settled in a catena of judgments including in the case of Nipun Saxena v Union Of India wherein it was held by the Supreme Court of India, that the name, address, school or other particulars which may lead to the identification of the child in conflict with law/victim cannot be disclosed in the media. No picture of such child, or any such particular which can directly or indirectly disclose her identity, can be published. A child who is not in conflict with law but is a victim of an offence especially a sexual offence needs this protection even more, plea read.
In August 2021, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had met the family of the minor girl who was allegedly raped, murdered, and cremated without her parents' consent in Delhi's Old Nangal crematorium. After meeting with the family, he assured his support to the family. Rahul Gandhi also tweeted about his meeting and shared a picture of him with the victim's parents on Twitter.