R.G. Kar case: MeitY nominated nodal officer to pull down the identity of deceased victim, Centre tells SC

New Delhi, Oct 15 (IANS) The Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has nominated a nodal officer to pull down the offending content revealing the identity of the victim in West Bengal’s R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital incident.

A bench, headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud, which was hearing a suo moto case related to the Kolkata rape-murder case, was apprised by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the second highest law officer of the Centre, that the MeitY had appointed the nodal officer for the preservation of identity and privacy of the deceased victim.

Further, the bench, also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, noted that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been in “active contact” with the parents of the deceased and has apprised them of the progress of the investigation.

The apex court asked the CBI to file within three weeks a further status report in relation to the rape-murder case as well as in relation to the financial irregularities alleged to have been committed at the state-run hospital.

In an earlier hearing, the SC had passed an injunctive order specifically asking Wikipedia to remove the name, photographs, and video clips of the deceased victim.

“In Wikipedia, the name and photo of the (victim) girl is still there. Till yesterday, it was there and we have checked again, it is still there,” said SG Mehta.

The top court reiterated that all social media platforms must take down the identity of the victim, including photographs of the body of the deceased.

The Supreme Court, in an order passed on August 20, had ordered the removal of the identity of the deceased victim from all social media platforms and electronic media. It noted that the name of the deceased and related hashtags have been widely disseminated on electronic and social media.

“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,” it had said.

The apex court passed an injunctive order requiring all social media platforms and electronic media to forthwith remove all references to the name of the deceased, photographs and video clips.

In the first suo moto hearing, the SC had pulled up the West Bengal government over the publication of the name, photographs and video clips of the deceased victim. “It is extremely concerning. We are first to recognise the right to free speech, but there are well-settled parameters,” it had said. In response, the West Bengal Police said that it had filed 50 FIRs and before it could reach the crime scene, photos were taken and circulated.

–IANS

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