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The Delhi High Court today refused to issue notice to Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on a plea seeking appropriate legal action against Gandhi, for disclosing information about a rape victim and her family members by publishing a photograph of her parents on his Twitter handle @RahulGandhi. However, the bench issued notice to Twitter Inc on the petition and sought its reply in the case.

The case was heard by a division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh. 

In December 2018, the Supreme Court had laid down an absolute bar on the media to publish or air the names or any material which may even remotely reveal the identity of victims of sexual crimes.

Facts

The incident relates to an occurrence in August this year wherein a 9-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly gang-raped and subsequently murdered in South-West Delhi. She who was allegedly even cremated by her attackers after the act in great haste.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had posted a picture after the incident with the parents of the girl victim, on his Twitter handle, following which the handle was suspended for violating Twitter's policies. The handle was later restored after removal of the tweet.

The Petition

The petitioner contended in his petition that by posting the picture of the girl's parents, Rahul Gandhi has violated Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and Section 23 (2) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, both of which mandate, inter alia, that the identity of a child victim of a crime shall not be disclosed including her name, 
photograph, details about her parents/family or such other details which can lead 
to disclosure of her identity.

It was highlighted that the purpose of these provisions was to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the child victim and to prevent further harassment to her and her family, and to ensure their safety.

The petitioner alleged that Gandhi by violating 
the provisions of law compromised both.

Contentions

Adding the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and the Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, as parties in the matter, the petitioner contended through its counsel, Adv. Gautam Jha, that Twitter Inc also must respond on the aspect of "misuse of its platform". 

Responding to the issue, Sr. Adv. Sajjan Poovayya appearing for Twitter informed the court that the tweet has already been removed and the account is now functional without the tweet. 

However, the petitioner's counsel contended that, "In law, intent or subsequent actions (viz. deletion of published material such as tweet etc.) are not relevant factors, for establishing violations under the above-mentioned provisions, and mere identification of child victim by publication of her identity (directly or indirectly) violates the law and
mandates that the necessary legal and penal consequences must follow."

It was also pressed that in the present case here is a minimum punishment of 6 months and maximum punishment of 1 year under the above stated provisions, and that there are various judgments of the Supreme Court and the High Courts on this point, with detailed guidelines having been laid down by the Apex Court in the case of Nipun Saxena v Union Of India, with regard to protecting the identity of a child victim. 

However the court did not issue notice to Rahul Gandhi. 
 
Case Title: Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar v. Rahul Gandhi & Ors.