Congress MP Rahul Gandhi told the Delhi High Court that he will delete a social media post where he had revealed the identity of a 9-year-old Dalit girl who was allegedly raped and murdered. He agreed to delete a 2021 tweet, where he had posted a photograph of the victim, identifying her which is a crime under Indian laws.
The Congress leader made the undertaking after the court indicated it might order the removal of the post to protect the victim’s identity. Rahul Gandhi’s lawyers told a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna that he was willing to take the tweet down.
Accepting the undertaking, the court agreed to not pass any order. Acting Chief Justice Manmohan said, “We don’t want to pass a judicial order for this, so please delete the tweet and protect the identity of the girl. We are concerned about that.”
In a surprising turn of events, the Delhi Police gave a completely different version of the case during the same hearing, saying that there was no scientific evidence that the victim girl was raped or murdered. The police stated that the girl died of electrocution.
Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, representing the petitioner against Gandhi, said that at the time of the tweet by Rahul Gandhi, it was considered a rape case, and if the police are giving a different version, it should file a closure report. He demanded that action against Rahul Gandhi should still be taken because he had disclosed the identity of the victim when it was considered a rape and murder case, which is a crime under POCSO.
Advocate Santosh Kumar Tripathi, representing the police, stated that a detailed status report would be filed in a sealed cover.
The Delhi Police counsel stated, “My report is already on record. Details of the investigation are mentioned. If anything further is required, I will file a sealed cover report. The purpose of the Delhi Police is not to scandalise anyone.”
The court directed the Delhi Police counsel to file a sealed cover status report on the investigation within four weeks. The next date of the hearing has been fixed on 24th January 2024.
It is notable that earlier the Congress party had claimed that the victim’s mother had permitted Rahul Gandhi reveal her daughter’s identity by posting her photograph. But the mother had denied this claim. She had clarified that she didn’t sign any consent later, and only talked to Rahul Gandhi when he visited the family.
Rahul Gandhi’s X (then Twitter) was locked for some time after he had posted the image, which is a crime under POCSO and Juvenile Justice Act. The concerned tweet was also withheld in India by Twitter, in response to a notice by NCPCR. However, later Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter account was restored.
