Kolkata doc's rape-murder: SC orders removal of name, photos, videos of deceased

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the removal of the name, photos and videos of a trainee doctor, who was raped and murdered in Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, from all social media platforms.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said disclosure of the identity of a victim of sexual assault is a violation of its order passed in the Nipun Saxena case.

"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 bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said.

The top court was hearing a plea filed by lawyer Kinnori Ghosh and others against the disclosure of the victim medic's identity on social media.

The plea said the name of the deceased and related hashtags have been widely disseminated on electronic and social media platforms including Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Google (YouTube) and X (formerly Twitter).

Earlier in the day, the apex court had said it was deeply concerned that the name of the deceased was 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 There are judgments of the court like in Nipun Saxena (case) that names of survivors of sexual assault will not be published," the apex court said.

In its 2018 judgement in the Nipun Saxena case, the top court had said, "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 with severe injury marks was found inside the seminar hall of the hospital's chest department on August 9. A civic volunteer was arrested by the Kolkata Police the following day for his alleged involvement in the rape-murder incident.