Twitter had reportedly locked the account of the former President of the Indian National Congress, Rahul Gandhi. Two days before the temporary lock, Rahul Gandhi had tweeted a photograph of a rape victim’s parents. The victim was a nine-year-old girl, she was raped and murdered in southwest Delhi in a crematorium on 1st August.
Additionally, the official Twitter account of the Indian National Congress party was also locked for a while on Tuesday. Some of the Congress leaders like Randeep Surjewala, Sushmita Dev, Manickam Tagore and Ajay Maken faced the same issue.
According to the microblogging site, when Gandhi made the victim’s parents’ faces public, he breached sections of the Juvenile Justice Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. These laws provide that a victim’s identity should not be disclosed.
A Lok Sabha member of BJP, Tejasvi Surya took a jibe as he says, ‘Now, Gandhi cannot take umbrage behind the ‘freedom of expression’ argument after he tweeted the picture of a rape and murder victim’s family.. The only place he was active was Twitter. Unfortunately, even Twitter has shown him the door.’
BJP general secretary B L Santhosh tweeted, ‘The other day, when the same company flagged Sambit Patra, you all were celebrating, forgetting that life comes a full circle. You revealed the identity of a rape victim. So your account has been blocked. Tell that loudly and then protest and preach.’
Twitter is a Biased Platform: Rahul Gandhi
After a week, along with Rahul Gandhi, other Congress leaders accounts have also been unlocked by the social media platform. The Congress party tweeted, ‘Satyameva Jayate.’ Yesterday, Rahul Gandhi accused the microblogging site of “interfering in the national political process.” He says, “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.”
The Twitter spokesperson clarifies, “The withholding actions are limited to the specific jurisdiction/country where the content is determined to be unlawful and remains available elsewhere.”