Rahul’s Insta post violates POCSO; FB asks him to remove it

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Facebook has asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to remove his post from Instagram where identity was revealed of the family of a nine-year-old girl who was allegedly raped and murdered in southwest Delhi, the apex child rights body NCPCR said.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights shared copies of the letter that Facebook forwarded to it in response to its summon to the social media giant. In the letter to Gandhi, Facebook said, “A post you uploaded through your Instagram account is unlawful under Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015; Section 23 of the POCSO Act, 2012; and Section 288A of the Indian Penal Code. In accordance with NCPCR’s Notice, you are requested to remove this post expeditiously.”

Following the communication from Facebook, the NCPCR withdrew its direction to the company to appear before the commission with an explanation over non-action over Gandhi’s post. Instagram, a photo and video sharing social networking platform, is owned by Facebook. The NCPCR had last week 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.