The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has written to social media giants, Facebook and Instagram, about violation of Indian laws on their platforms after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi shared posts on these platforms “revealing identity of victims” of the family of the nine-year-old Dalit rape and murder victim last week in Delhi. The NCPCR has summoned an official of Facebook India next week along with details of the action taken against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for posting a video on his Instagram account revealing the identity of the family of the rape victim.
The NCPCR has asked Facebook India head, Satya Yadav, to appear before the commission on Tuesday (August 17) to explain what action it has taken against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s post. This comes after Gandhi took to Instagram after Twitter blocked his official account. On Friday, the child rights body asked Facebook to take action against Rahul Gandhi for posting the video of the girl’s family, saying it violated the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, 2012, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It also demanded the removal of the video from the platform. “The Commission had taken cognisance upon a video posted on the Instagram portal of Shri Rahul Gandhi wherein the identity of minor girl victim’s parents has been disclosed…The matter had been forwarded to Facebook Inc. for removal of post and taking action against the Instagram profile of Shri Rahul Gandhi within 3 days. However, no reply/action taken report has been received by you even after the lapse of 03 days time,” NCPCR observed.
The former Congress president had met the family of the minor girl. Later, he posted a picture of his meeting with the girl’s parents on Twitter and a video on Instagram, owned by Facebook. The girl had died under mysterious circumstances when she went to get water from a cooler at a crematorium in Delhi, according to a PTI report. The girl’s parents alleged that she was raped and her body forcibly cremated by a crematorium who had falsely claimed that she was electrocuted.
