Will remove tweet revealing minor victim's identity, Rahul Gandhi tells Delhi HC

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that he will delete a tweet containing purportedly sensitive details about a minor girl who was allegedly raped and murdered in 2021.

The court was a plea seeking FIR against Gandhi for revealing the identity of a nine-year-old girl who was allegedly raped and killed.

Gandhi's counsel made the statement during a hearing before a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna, after the court said it did not wish to issue a judicial order.

During the proceedings, Delhi Police's counsel informed the court that the petition was now infructuous as all the requested actions had been fulfilled. It noted the complexity of the ongoing investigation into Gandhi and clarified that the cause of the minor victim's death was electrocution, with no scientific evidence supporting claims of rape and murder.

Advocate Mehmood Pracha, representing the victim's family, urged the court to avoid discussing case details openly to preserve the trial's integrity.

Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the petitioner, asserted that regardless of the crime's proof, disclosing the minor's identity constituted an offence under the POCSO Act.

The court directed Delhi Police to submit a detailed status report on the investigation into Gandhi within four weeks, in a sealed cover.

The next hearing is scheduled for January 24, 2024.

A nine-year-old minor girl had died under suspicious circumstances on August 1, 2021, with her parents alleging that she was raped, murdered and cremated by a crematorium's priest in Delhi's Old Nangal village.

Social activist Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar had moved a plea in the High Court in 2021, alleging that Gandhi had violated the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, 2012, which prohibits the identification of minors who have been sexually assaulted.

Last time, the counsel appearing for the petitioner and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) told the court that no action has been taken yet by the police, and that it has been over two years since the incident took place.

The NCPCR has earlier, through an affidavit, told the High Court that X’s decision to not remove Gandhi's post, wherein he had allegedly revealed the identity of a minor Dalit girl, who was raped and murdered in 2021, contributes to disclosing the victim's identity.

Its lawyer said that the Delhi Police must register a FIR in the case.

Appearing for Gandhi, on the other hand, aqdvocate Tarannum Cheema had said that the court has not issued a formal notice to him.

In response, the court had said that it will first examine the status report of the Delhi Police and then decide what needs to be done.

The NCPCR in its affidavit has said that though X (then Twitter) has withheld the post in India on receiving a notice sent by it, it failed to remove the tweet altogether which is still available for the public to be seen outside India.

It has said that in order to fully give effect to its obligations, X ought to have removed the impugned tweet from its platform and the same should not be hidden only in the "Indian territory".

True meaning and effect has to be given in letter and spirit to Right to Privacy and Right to dignity as guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, the affidavit reads.

Consequently, the inaction of X contributes to disclosure of the identity of the victim, which is in violation of the country's laws, it said.

Sajan Poovayya, a senior lawyer representing X, had argued that "nothing survived" in the petition because the contested post has been "geo-blocked" and is currently not accessible in India. He had added that Gandhi's account was suspended by the social media platform but was later restored.

Nonetheless, the petitioner and the NCPCR's counsel claimed that the offence still exists.