DCW Chairperson Tweets Old Sexual Assault Video, Gets Called Out

Swati Maliwal tagged Delhi Police in her tweet, but the incident had taken place in Hyderabad and not in Delhi.

CLAIM

Delhi Commission for Women Chairperson Swati Maliwal on Tuesday, 23 July, tweeted a video, purportedly of an old man forcing himself on a minor. Maliwal, in her tweet, claimed that the incident took place in Delhi.

She also tagged Delhi Police's twitter handle and urged strict action be taken against the person in the video.

News platforms Mirror Now and Times Now Hindi published a story with the location of the incident as Delhi.

WHAT’S THE TRUTH?

Journalist Dhanya Rajendran immediately called out Maliwal over the tweet and said that the video is from Hyderabad and the incident took place in March.

She also said that the accused in the video has already been caught.

This is a video from Hyderabad from March. This man was caught. And I am shocked that the Chairperson of the Delhi commission for Women is publishing a rape video on social media.

— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) July 23, 2019

According to a report by Deccan Chronicle dated 8 March 2019, a 70-year-old man attempted to rape a two-and-a-half-year-old girl at an under-construction area in Hyderabad's Moghalpura.

The DCW chairperson later issued a clarification tweet, minutes after taking down the video.

This v disturbing video was viral on social media. Made my blood boil. Want the man 2 get strongest punishment. Shared video so that he is identified! However, hv deleted it & sought report from Police. Apologize if I have hurt sentiments. Intention is only to get justice 4 girl.

— Swati Maliwal (@SwatiJaiHind) July 23, 2019

Although Mirror Now updated their story with Maliwal's clarification and mentioned the incident to be from March, the Hindi website of Times Now had not issued a clarification till the time this story was written.

WHAT WAS WRONG WITH MALIWAL'S TWEET?

Other than sharing the video with wrong information, the act of sharing the video in itself was wrong.

The law prohibits revealing the identity of the child victim/survivor. It is illegal under section 23 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act as well as Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act.

And Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code criminalises revealing the identity of a rape victim, which has been reiterated by the Supreme Court.

One can also be booked under Section 67B of the Information Technology Act, which prohibits publishing as well as sharing material depicting a child in a sexually explicit acts in electronic form.

The Act also prohibits browsing, downloading, advertising, promoting, exchanging and distributing such material in any form.

Minor victims’ identity must be concealed even if their family consents to reveal it, the apex court said.

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