Delhi gangrape: Twitter restores Rahul Gandhi account

• Shubham
• 14 August, 2021

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By: Shubham Ghosh

SOCIAL media giant Twitter on Saturday (14) restored the handle of former Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi a week after temporarily suspending it saying he flouted its rules by sharing pictures of the family of a nine-year-old girl who was allegedly gangraped and murdered in Delhi.

Sources said the accounts of some of the other leaders of the party who had shared the same pictures were also restored.

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“Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter account has been unlocked,” a Congress party functionary said, adding that accounts of some of the other leaders have also been restored.

On Friday (13), Gandhi slammed Twitter accusing it of interfering in the national political process and alleged that shutting down his Twitter handle was nothing but an attack on the country’s domestic structure. In a YouTube video statement titled ‘Twitter’s dangerous game’, the 51-year-old leader said the platform was not neutral and was beholden to the government.

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“It’s obvious now that Twitter is actually not a neutral, objective platform. It is a biased platform. It’s something that listens to what the government of the day says,” he said.

Child rights body summons Facebook officials

Meanwhile, India’s apex child rights body National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) summoned Facebook officials for not responding to its notice flagging Gandhi’s Instagram post allegedly revealing the identity of the alleged rape victim.

The latest NCPCR communication to Facebook, which owns Instagram, follows its notice seeking action against Gandhi’s profile for sharing the affected family’s picture. The commission said in a follow-up letter the social media platform took no action and now has asked its officials to appear at 5 pm Indian Standard Time on Tuesday (17) either in person at the NCPCR office or through video-conferencing, along with the details of the action taken.

Earlier, the NCPCR had asked Facebook to take appropriate action against Gandhi’s Instagram profile over the alleged 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.