Delhi: Mum of Dalit Girl Allegedly Raped & Killed Says Rahul Gandhi Used Family Pics Without Consent

On 4 August, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi met with the parents of a nine-year-old Dalit girl, who was allegedly raped and murdered in a crematorium in Delhi. Demanding justice for "India's daughter", Gandhi had posted pictures of his meeting with the victim's parents on social media. Gandhi's snaps had unlawfully revealed their identities.

The mother of a minor girl who was allegedly raped and murdered in Delhi has denied signing any consent form to allow Congress politician Rahul Gandhi to share photographs of her family on social media.

According to the woman, she was unaware of the Congress politician having shared images of their meeting on Twitter and Instaram, Times Now reported on Tuesday. Gandhi had met the woman and her husband to lend support to their demand for justice for their deceased daughter. 

A 55-year-old priest, Radhey Shyam along with three crematorium employees, Salim, Laxmi Narayan, and Kuldeep have been arrested for allegedly raping, murdering, and hurriedly cremating the nine-year-old girl in Delhi. Their involvement in the case is being investigated.

Earlier this month, acting on a notice from the Indian National Commission of the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Twitter removed Gandhi's post revealing the identities of the alleged rape victim's parents.

As punishment, Twitter also temporarily restricted key features of Gandhi's official handle for seven days. 

On 14 August, however, the 50-year-old Congress bigwig's Twitter account was restored after he submitted a "consent form" saying the victim's parents did not object to their pictures being shared on social media. 

For now, it remains unclear if Gandhi's Twitter account could be barred again based on the fresh statements by the victim's mother.

Details about whether the police have opened any investigation into verifying these new claims also remain undisclosed at present.

Gandhi's tweet broke Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and Section 23(2) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, an NCPCR-associated social activist told the Delhi High court last week.

"The law in this regard is very well-settled in a catena of judgments wherein it was held by the Supreme Court of India, that the name, address, school, or other particulars, which may be lead to the identification of the child in conflict with law/victim, cannot be disclosed in the media", social activist Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar was quoted by the Indian Express as telling the Delhi court.