Rahul Gandhi gets notice for 'disclosing' identity of minor assault victims

On June 15, Gandhi had shared a video of two dalit minors of Maharashtra, who were assaulted for taking a bath using water from a well used by general people.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi: Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi who celebrated his 48^th birthday on Tuesday, found himself caught in a fresh controversy. On June 15, Gandhi had shared a video of two dalit minors of Maharashtra, who were assaulted for taking a bath using water from a well used by the general people. The video has now backfired as the Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights issued a notice to him and Twitter for 'disclosing' the identity of two minor boys, victims of assault.

महाराष्ट्र के इन दलित बच्चों का अपराध सिर्फ इतना था कि ये एक "सवर्ण" कुएं में नहा रहे थे।

आज मानवता भी आखरी तिनकों के सहारे अपनी अस्मिता बचाने का प्रयास कर रही है। RSS/BJP की मनुवाद की नफरत की जहरीली राजनीति खिलाफ हमने अगर आवाज़ नहीं उठाई तो इतिहास हमें कभी माफ नहीं करेगा pic.twitter.com/STeBSkI1q1 — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 15, 2018

Amol Jadhav, a city resident, had filed a complaint against Gandhi and Twitter. President of the commission Pravin Ghuge said he has sought a reply from both as to why action should not be taken against them under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, PTI reported. As per the law, identity of minor victims can not be disclosed. Rahul’s reply has been sought by the commission within 10 days. “I issued notices to Gandhi and Twitter as they have disclosed the identity of victims," Ghuge told PTI. The video had gone viral the previous week and Gandhi had expressed his anger on Twitter. He had blamed the RSS and BJP’s politics after the Dalit boys were paraded nude and assaulted for swimming in a village well in Wakadi village. "The sole crime of these Dalit children was they were taking a dip in a well. Humanity is struggling to save its dignity," Gandhi had tweeted. He said if we don't raise our voices against this politics of hate and poison of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and BJP, history would not forgive us. Gandhi's comments on the issue, which has snowballed into a major political controversy, came even as a high-level team of Maharashtra Congress visited the village to assess the situation. Gandhi had tweeted about the incident tagging the video, and blamed the BJP and RSS for rising atrocities against backward classes.