Kolkata Rape-Murder Case: Supreme Court Orders Removal of RG Kar Hospital Doctor’s Name and Photos from Social Media
The supreme court ordered the removal of the name, photos and videos, of the trainee doctor who was raped and murdered, from social media.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the removal of the name, photos and videos of a trainee doctor, who was allegedly raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, from all social media platforms.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, pointed out that disclosing the identity of a victim of sexual assault was a violation of the Supreme Court order passed in the Nipun Saxena case, which emphasised the need for a victim to be protected from scrutiny.
“This court is constrained to issue an injunctive order since the social and electronic media have proceeded to publish the identity of the deceased and photographs of the dead body after the recovery of the body,” CJI Chandrachud ordered all social and electronic media platforms to comply with the directive.
The bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, was hearing a plea filed by lawyer Kinnori Ghosh and others against the disclosure of the trainee doctor’s identity on social media.
The plea said the name of the victim and related hashtags had been widely spread on electronic and social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X (formerly Twitter).
Earlier in the day, the top court had said it was deeply concerned that the name of the deceased had been published all over social media.
“Photographs and video clips are all over the media. This is extremely concerning. We are first to recognise free speech but there are well-settled parameters. There are judgments of the court like in Nipun Saxena (case) that names of survivors of sexual assault will not be published,” the Supreme Court said.
In its 2018 judgment in the Nipun Saxena case, the apex court had ordered, “No person can print or publish in print, electronic, social media, etc. the name of the victim or even in a remote manner disclose any facts which can lead to the victim being identified and which should make her identity known to the public at large.”
The trainee doctor’s body was found on August 9. A civic volunteer, Sanjoy Roy, was arrested by the Kolkata Police the following day for his alleged involvement in the rape-murder incident. He is currently being questioned by the CBI and is likely to undergo a polygraph test as well.
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