Delhi HC disposes of FIR plea against Rahul as post deleted
Plea claims Gandhi revealed identity of a rape victim
: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday disposed of a petition seeking registration of an FIR against Rahul Gandhi for revealing the identity of an alleged rape victim, after taking note of the submissions by the Congress leader, the city police and social media platform X that the post has been taken down.
Advocate Tarannum Cheema, representing Gandhi, told a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora that the tweet was withheld in India and has been taken down internationally. The counsel for social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), where the tweet was posted, also confirmed that Gandhi deleted the tweet which revealed the identity of the minor Dalit girl who was allegedly raped and murdered before being cremated in haste.
Delhi government standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi, representing the Delhi Police, submitted a status report stating that an FIR was registered against Gandhi in 2021 and the investigation in is still going on.
He said unless the main crime of rape was proven, the subsequent act of publishing the identity of an alleged victim does not become a crime, and investigation on the issue of revelation of the victim’s identity by Gandhi was underway.
Disclosing the identity of a rape victim constitutes an offence under Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code and is punishable with imprisonment up to two years and fine.
In the post, which stands geoblocked by the social media platform, Gandhi had published a photograph with the parents of the nine-year-old girl who 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 southwest Delhi’s Old Nangal village.
Following the post, Gandhi’s account was suspended by the social media platform for some time but restored subsequently. The court was hearing a 2021 petition by social activist Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar seeking registration of an FIR against Gandhi for revealing the identity of the victim.
Noting the submissions of the parties, the high court said the prayers in the petition stand satisfied and disposed of the plea. The court also noted the FIR was registered at the instance of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) registrar.
