Delhi: HC seeks reply from police, demands FIR against Rahul Gandhi for revealing identity of rape victim
A response has been sought from the police on the petition demanding FIR against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for revealing the identity of the rape victim.
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The High Court has directed the police to submit a report on the petition demanding FIR against Rahul Gandhi for revealing the identity of the rape victim. It is alleged that the identity of the nine-year-old Dalit girl who was raped and murdered in a crematorium in Delhi was allegedly revealed by Rahul Gandhi.
The division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna ordered the police to file the report within 10 days and fixed the hearing for December 21. The bench was considering a PIL filed by an activist named Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar, objecting to Gandhi's tweet, which contained photographs of the deceased girl's parents.
Mhadlekar said that these photographs are revealing the identity of the victim girl and as a result are in violation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act (JJ Act) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, 2012 (POCSO Act). He said that as per Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act and Section 23(2) of the POCSO Act, there is an order not to disclose the identity of the victim or her family members.
During the hearing, the counsel appearing for the petitioner as well as the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) told the bench that even though the incident had happened almost three years ago, the Delhi Police has not taken any action. NCPCR's lawyer said that Delhi Police should register an FIR in the matter. Advocate Tarannum Cheema, appearing for Rahul Gandhi, told the bench that the court has not issued him a formal notice.
The bench said it will first examine the status report of Delhi Police and then decide what needs to be done. The case pertains to the rape of a nine-year-old girl who had gone to fetch water from a cooler installed at a cremation ground in Delhi's Purana Nangal area, when the priest of the cremation ground, along with three others, carried out the brutal act. Gandhi then met the girl's parents and consoled them, photographs of which were tweeted from his official Twitter handle. On August 4, 2021, the NCPCR took cognizance of the tweet and directed Twitter to remove Gandhi's tweet as it contained sensitive information about the rape victim's family members.
Know what is the matter
For your information, let us tell you that after the murder of a nine-year-old girl in Delhi Cantt area, her last rites were performed by putting pressure on the family. The girl lived with her parents in a rented house opposite the cremation ground. Last August 1, at around 5.30 pm, she had come to get water to drink from the cooler of the cremation ground. After this his suspicious death occurred. The accused called the girl's mother and told her that she had died due to electric shock. It is alleged that she was also raped before her murder.
After which Congress leader Rahul went to meet the victim's family. He also went to the victim's village Nangal and met her. Rahul Gandhi had also posted the picture of this meeting on Twitter. It is noteworthy that revealing the identity of a minor rape victim is a legal crime.
