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Synopsis

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has informed the Delhi High Court that he has deleted the social media post internationally in which the identity of a 9-year-old Dalit girl, allegedly raped and killed at a crematorium in 2021, was revealed.

This came after the court, in its last hearing, indicated it might order the removal of the post to protect the victim's identity.

The bench was hearing a petition seeking direction to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and Commissioner of Police Delhi to take appropriate legal action against Congress ex-President Rahul Gandhi for disclosing sensitive information about a rape victim and her family members by publishing a photograph of her parents on his Twitter handle, @RahulGandhi.

Rahul Gandhi's counsel provided an undertaking before a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, expressing that he has taken down the post on X (formerly known as Twitter) internationally.

Advocate Santosh Kumar Tripathi, representing the police, submitted a detailed status report in a sealed envelope. Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani appeared for the petitioner.

The bench, on perusal of the status report presented in a sealed envelope, noted that an FIR was registered in September 9, 2021, against Rahul Gandhi on the basis of a complaint received by the Registrar of NCPCR. Accordingly, the court disposed of the petition. 

Earlier, the court emphasized the importance of protecting the victim's identity and urged Gandhi to remove the post voluntarily.

Proceeding so far

In July 2023, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) told the court that social media posts by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi "revealing the identity" of a minor Dalit girl, raped and killed in 2021, were in violation of the law protecting the identity of the victim.

"Shri Rahul Gandhi posted a picture of his meeting with the parents of the minor victim girl on his social media accounts thereafter, revealing the identity of the minor girl. The tweet or post of... Shri Rahul Gandhi is in violation of provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, which makes it explicitly clear that any information, including family details, should not be published in any form of media that could lead to the identification of any minor victim," said the reply affidavit by NCPCR.

Notably, in October 2022, the NCPCR submitted that Rahul Gandhi committed an offence by disclosing sensitive information about a rape victim, and the Commission would support the petitioner seeking strict action against the Congress leader if notice is issued to it.

It may be noted that earlier, the high court had issued notice only to Twitter. Thereafter, Twitter, in its response, submitted that the tweet had been removed. Additionally, it was submitted that the parents of a minor Dalit girl, who was allegedly raped and murdered in Delhi’s cantonment area last year, had consented to their photo being shared by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on the microblogging site.

The plea filed by Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar stated that by his conduct, Gandhi 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 case relates to a nine-year-old Dalit girl who was allegedly gang-raped, murdered, and then cremated by her attackers on August 1, 2021, in South West Delhi, leading to widespread protests.

The petition filed through Advocates Gautam Jha, Pankaj Kumar, and Shweta Jha submitted that in this regard, the law 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 Apex Court that the name, address, school, or other particulars that may lead to the identification of the child in conflict with the law or victim cannot be disclosed in the media. No picture of such a child or any such particular that can directly or indirectly disclose her identity can be published.

The petitioner brought to the court’s notice that Twitter Inc. in face of public criticism, had already removed the tweet by Gandhi as per media reports, which corroborated the case of the petitioner about the illegality committed by Gandhi.

Case Title: Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar v. Rahul Gandhi and Ors.