The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has issued a notice to Twitter India, calling for action against senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for violating POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act by posting pictures of the parents of a nine-year-old girl who was allegedly raped and murdered in Delhi.
In a letter to micro-blogging site Twitter, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson Priyank Kanoongo has stated that he has received a complaint stating that the Gandhi-scion Rahul Gandhi had tweeted a photo of a minor girl victim’s family with a caption stating that they were the father and the mother of the victim child, thus disclosing the details of the minor victim.
The NCPCR informed Twitter that Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 prohibits the disclosure of the identity of a child in any form of media and Section 23 of the POCSO Act, 2012 also stated that no information or photo of a child should be published in any form of media that revealed the identity of the child.
According to the complaint, the tweets put out by Rahul Gandhi had shared certain personal details about the victim violating Section 23 of the POCSO Act, 2012, and Section 74 of Juvenile Justice Act,2015. Hence, the NCPCR asked Twitter to remove the tweets put out by Rahul Gandhi as it was deprivation and violation of child rights.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had visited the minor girl’s family on Wednesday and had tweeted a picture of the parents of the deceased minor girl. The victim, a nine-year-old Dalit girl, was allegedly raped, murdered and then allegedly cremated by the alleged perpetrators, who are now in police custody.
The four accused have been booked under sections related to rape, murder and threats, and under provisions of the POCSO Act and the SC/ST Act.
Meanwhile, BJP has accused the Congress leader of revealing the details of the minor victim and violating the POCSO Act and the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Act that prohibits revealing a minor’s identity. The saffron party had said they would urge the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to take cognisance of the tweet.