RG Kar rape and murder: Supreme Court orders removal of victim's name, photos from social media, news

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered all news and social media platforms to remove the name, photos, videos and other details of the 31-year old resident doctor who was raped and murdered in Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital[Kinnori Ghosh and Another v. Union of India and Others]..A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra passed the order after two lawyers moved the Court against disclosure of the name and identity of the deceased victim."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. We accordingly direct that all references to the name of the deceased in the above incident, photographs and video clips shall forthwith be removed from all social media platforms and electronic media in compliance of this order," the Court directed..The petitioners pointed out that the photo of the body of the deceased was circulating on social media and the same was violative of the Nipun Saxena judgment of the Supreme Court. The apex court noted that it had in that verdict directed that identity of rape victims must be protected and media cannot disclose the same."What does Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita say on this," the Bench asked the petitioner's advocate."That the identity cannot be disclosed," the counsel for the petitioner replied.The Court then proceeded to pass directions to take down details of the victim including name, photos and videos from news outlets and social media platforms. "Plainly, this is in violation of the directives of this Court in Nipun Saxena & Anr Vs Union of India & Ors. This Court directed that the identity of victims of rape should be protected and the media including the press, electronic and social media shall not reveal their identity. A directive was also issued by the Union Union Ministry of Home Affairs on 16 January 2019. Reliance has also been placed on the provisions of Section 72(1) of the Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita 2023," the Court noted in its order..Advocates Nikhil Majithia and Rishi Kumar Singh Gautam, appeared for the petitioners..[Read Order]