A Delhi-based lawyer Vineet Jindal has filed an FIR with Delhi police against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for allegedly disclosing the identity of a 9-year-old victim in Delhi’s Nangal rape case. On Saturday, his Twitter account was also temporarily locked after the violation.
Advocate Jindal complained that Rahul Gandhi from his Twitter handle, shared a photo with the parents of the minor victim which amounts to disclosing the victim’s identity.
The complainant has sought legal action against Rahul Gandhi under Section 23 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Section 74 of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, and Section 228A of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
IPC Section 228A prohibits the disclosure of the identity of a rape survivor and some other offences.
As the recently shared story, a 9-year old Dalit girl was allegedly gang-raped, murdered, and forcibly cremated by four people on August 1. The incident took place in a crematorium in Delhi cantonment of SouthWest Delhi.
The priest of the crematorium is alleged to be the prime accused among all. The girl went to fetch water from a cooler at the crematorium on Sunday at around 5.30 pm. After a few hours, the family of the victim was informed that their daughter got electrocuted.
Why Silence The Victim?
Though neighbours of the victim submitted that the priest has admitted to the crime, the parents of the rape victim was taken into custody and were questioned. The police allegedly resisted to add the rape charges and forced the kin to stay silent about the incident.
“I asked them why are you not trying to stop the fire? How will you collect evidence? They didn’t do anything. When I tried to pour a bucket of water to prevent the body from burning, one policeman caught my hand and told me not to do that,” said two witnesses.
Can You Sense The Casteist Impunity From Priest Words?
The mother of the victim who is a ragpicker was allegedly asked by the priest not to share the incident with anybody.
“You’ll be ruined. You are so poor, how will you fight a case? Your child will be cremated. There’s no need to call anyone. What had to happen has happened. No Need to scream now, we’ll settle here,” the victim’s mother was allegedly told by the crematorium priest.
The motive behind mentioning the word “Dalit” is to address caste based violence and not to give it a casteist angle. The fact cannot be denied that the lower caste women are subjected to more oppression and caste based violence. The horrifying Hathras rape case is also an example of the atrocities against SC/STs.
- As per NCRB, 2957 Dalit women were raped across the country in 2018. Among those, 871 were minors.
- Nearly 46,000 cases of atrocities against oppressed castes were reported in 2019 alone.
The first priority should be to deliver justice to an innocent rape victim and then the focus should also be on tackling the caste based violence.
