A Supreme Court lawyer has filed a complaint with the Tilak Marg police station in Delhi, alleging that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's tweet 'revealed' the household of the nine-year-old girl who was reportedly raped and killed in the Delhi Cantonment locality earlier in the month.
This came only days after Delhi BJP spokesman Naveen Kumar went to the Barakhamba Road police station to file a case against Rahul Gandhi for the same reason.
The lawyer claimed that Rahul Gandhi had broken the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2021 (POCSO's) provisions and asked that the complaint be filed under this clause.
The police have yet to file a FIR, but have stated that they would examine the substance of the complaint.
On August 10, 2021, BJP leader Jitendra Gothwal filed a case in a Jaipur sessions court against Congress MP and Twitter.
Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar, a Maharashtra-based social activist, too has lodged a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Delhi High Court, requesting that Twitter and the Delhi Police take some action towards Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
What did Rahul Gandhi’s tweet say ?
Rahul Gandhi visited the family members of the child from Nangal village who had been reportedly killed and forcefully cremated earlier this month. The previous Congress president also shared photos of his visit with the parents on Twitter, which led to his account being briefly banned for breaking the law.
The images were eventually brought down by the microblogging site when the girl's family reported that the four accused had sexually abused her. The law makes it illegal to divulge the name of a young rape victim.
The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had taken notice of the situation and contacted the Delhi Police and Twitter, requesting that they act quickly towards Rahul Gandhi for publishing photographs of the victim's family that may disclose her name.
Twitter claims tweets breached regulations; therefore, Congress accounts have been locked.
Following Rahul Gandhi's announcement, Twitter briefly suspended the Congress party's official handle, as well as the accounts of many other party officials, including Randeep Surjewala, Ajay Maken, and Sushmita Dev, citing rule violations.
Following the action, the Congress condemned Twitter of caving in to influence from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration.
After a week, the profiles were activated on August 14, 2021 (Saturday) morning.
The girl's mother had no objections to Rahul Gandhi exposing their name.
The victim's mother stated that she and her nine-year-old daughter had no problems to any tweet or photograph.
On August 13, 2021 (Friday), family members buried the minor's remains in Haridwar. During the rite, security officers were there with the family.
