NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday assured the Delhi High Court that he would delete his tweet that disclosed the identity and sensitive details connected to a nine-year-old dalit minor girl who was allegedly raped and murdered in August 2021.
It is to be noted that Gandhi had met the minor's family and posted a picture on X (formerly known as Twitter) following the brutal rape and alleged murder of the nine-year-old girl by a priest inside a crematorium in August 2021 in the Delhi Cantonment area.
The two-judge bench of the Delhi HC, led by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan, and Justice Mini Pushkarna was hearing a plea filed by Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar, a social activist, seeking registration of an FIR (First Information Report) against Gandhi for allegedly disclosing the identity of the minor victim.
During the hearing today, the judges asked Gandhi's lawyer that they did not want to pass a judicial order for this. They thereby asked him to delete the tweet and protect the identity of the girl. "We are concerned about that," the HC said.
To this, Gandhi's counsel assured the HC that he would remove the tweet from X.
Mhadlekar, in his petition, claimed that by posting the photograph with the parents of the child victim, Gandhi had allegedly violated the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, which prohibit the disclosure of the identity of minor victims of sexual offences.
Lawyer Mehmood Pracha, appearing for the victim's family, while talking to TNIE, said that he argued that the details of the case should not be discussed in open court as it will affect the trial.
On the other hand, senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani appearing for the petitioner, Mhadlekar, held court that it did not matter whether the crime or allegation was proved or not, but strict action should be initiated against Gandhi, keeping in view the fact that the identity of the minor victim was allegedly being disclosed by him in the public domain, which is an offence under the POCSO Act.
The court directed the Delhi Police to file an accurate and elaborate further status report on the matter, in a sealed cover, indicating the current status of the investigation against Gandhi within four weeks and fixed the matter for further hearing till January 24, 2024. Attachments:
