Delhi Minor Rape and Murder Case: Facebook, Instagram Remove Rahul Gandhi's Post

The NCPCR had earlier written to Facebook, asking it to take action against Rahul Gandhi's instagram profile.

Social media platforms Instagram and Facebook have removed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s post that identified the relatives of a nine-year-old Dalit girl who was allegedly raped, murdered, and forcefully cremated in South West Delhi.

(Photo: Mekhala Saran/The Quint)

Social media platforms Instagram and Facebook have removed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s post that identified the relatives of a nine-year-old Dalit girl who was allegedly raped, murdered, and forcefully cremated in South West Delhi.

PTI has quoted sources as saying that Facebook had informed Gandhi and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) about the removal of the posts.

A Facebook spokesperson, in an emailed statement, was quoted by PTI as saying:

"We have taken action to remove the content as it was in violation of our policies.”

The removal came on the grounds of purported violation of Facebook’s policies.

The NCPCR had, earlier this month, written to Facebook, asking them to take appropriate action against the Instagram profile of Gandhi, alleging violation of provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

NCPCR chief Priyank Kanoongo was quoted by ANI as saying:

“We have received a complaint regarding the uploading of a video on Instagram, which revealed the identity of the parents (of a minor girl raped-murdered in Nangal, Delhi). We wrote to Instagram to take corrective action.”

However, NCPCR withdrew its direction to Facebook to appear before the commission with an explanation over non-action regarding Gandhi's post, after the platform wrote to Gandhi asking him to remove the post earlier this week.

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Previously, microblogging site Twitter had removed the post too, following a notice from the NCPCR.

Meanwhile, Twitter, on 14 August, restored Gandhi's account after it was suspended for tweeting photos of the family

A day after Twitter locked the accounts of the Congress party and a number of its leaders, Gandhi had posted a video on YouTube registering his protest against the action, for which the party has blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"This is an attack on the democratic structure of the country," Gandhi can be heard saying in the video titled 'Twitter's Dangerous Game'.

The BJP, on the other hand, had hailed this decision by Twitter as having shown Gandhi 'the door'.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI.)