After Twitter, Instagram and Facebook have removed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s post that revealed the identity of the parents of a minor girl who was raped and murdered in Delhi saying it violated the social media platforms’ policies.
Facebook has informed the Congress leader that his post had been taken down and cited the reasons for the same. The action comes days after Facebook wrote to Rahul asking him to take down the post. It had written to the leader a week after receiving summons from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).
“According to NCPCR’s August 10, 2021 notice, a post you uploaded through your Instagram account is unlawful under Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, Section 23 of the POCSO, 2012, and Section 288A of the Indian Penal Code. In accordance with NCPCR’s notice, you are requested to remove this post expeditiously,” Facebook had said in its e-mail to Rahul.
After Facebook wrote to Rahul and provided a copy of the letter to the NCPCR, the child rights panel exempted it from the summons. Last week, NCPCR had asked Facebook to take appropriate action against Gandhi’s Instagram profile over violation of provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, and the Indian Penal Code, and demanded the removal of the video from the platform.
Similar posts were also shared on Twitter. The microblogging platform had locked accounts of Gandhi as well as many other Congress leaders who tweeted the controversial post. On August 14, Twitter restored Gandhi’s account after the Congress leader submitted a consent letter from the family of the victim.
Twitter, however, continues to withhold the tweets that contain the images saying they violate India’s laws. “As part of the appeal process, @RahulGandhi (the official Twitter handle of Rahul Gandhi) has submitted a copy of the formal consent/authorisation letter to use the referenced image via our India Grievance Channel,” Twitter spokesperson had said. The law provides that identity of a juvenile victim of sexual assault cannot be disclosed. Tweeting pictures of the family violated that and so the accounts were locked.