E-Paper
In Hyderabad gang rape, BJP legislator booked for revealing girl’s identity
The complainant said the photos and videos of the girl went viral on social media after the lawmaker released them at a press conference
Hyderabad: A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker was on Tuesday booked for allegedly revealing the identity of the schoolgirl, who was allegedly gang-raped in an upscale Hyderabad locality on May 28, by releasing photographs and videos related to the incident, police said.
Indian Penal Code’s Section 228A prohibits revealing the identity of rape survivors or any other details which may reveal it.
Police said M Raghunandan Rao, the legislator, was booked on lawyer Karam Komireddy’s complaint. P Naresh Kumar, a local police officer, cited Komireddy’s complaint and added it noted Rao released the photographs and videos at a press conference he addressed at the BJP’s state office.
“It shows the MLA [member of legislative assembly] is interfering in the administration of justice and character assassination of the victim and it might have caused the minor victim a lot of distress,” Kumar said, quoting the complainant.
Komireddy said the photos and videos of the girl went viral on social media after the press conference. “Rao’s disclosures to the media were against the directions of the Supreme Court and also Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, which prohibits the disclosure of a child’s identity in any form of media... Section 23 of the POCSO [Protection of Children from Sexual Offences] Act, 2012, ...states that no information/photo of a child should be published in any form of media.”
Komireddy has also filed a similar complaint with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the Telangana State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
Rao earlier said he was not afraid of any cases. He added the photographs and the videos did not show the face or any other identification marks of the girl, nor mentioned her name. “I released the pictures and video to expose the accused who were involved in the crime. There is a conspiracy to protect All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leaders and their children involved in the incident.”
