Shame Hyderabad: Leaders, media, netizens share video of Jubilee Hills gang-rape victim

Hyderabad: In a shameful incident, an intimate video related to the Jubilee Hills gang-rape was shared widely among the netizens in the city. A video of the minor getting intimate with one of the boys in the car is being circulated on social media and is also being used to victim shame the girl.

The state politicians were among the first to leak the video alleging a political leader's son's involvement in the case. BJP MLA Raghunandan Rao, in a press conference held on Saturday, showed the stills of the video at a press meet alleging a politician son was present in the car. Thereafter, the video was shared multiple times through WhatsApp and other social media platforms. Sadly, some of the media houses also picked up the video and shared it on their websites.

Responding to such violations, Joel Davis, the DCP west zone, on Saturday said, "Any particulars or any reference to the family which may lead to the disclosure of the identity of the victim/child is an offense. I appeal to the media to stop revealing direct or indirect content related to the victim which may lead to her identification."

According to Section 23(2) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act says, "No reports in any media shall disclose, the identity of a child including his name, address, photograph, family details, school, neighbourhood or any other particulars which may lead to disclosure of identity of the child." Also, Section 74(1) of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 which prohibit the disclosure of the identity of minor victims of sexual offences. Under the JJ Act, punishment for the offence is six months imprisonment or a fine of Rs 2 lakh or both.

Earlier, in 2021, netizens had insensitively shared the photo of a six-year-old girl who was raped in Saidabad. In December 2018, the Supreme Court had barred disclosing the identity of rape victims even after their death. A bench of justice consisting of justice B Madhan Lokur and Deepak Gupta directed that FIRs lodged for rape under IPC and POSCO Act shall not be put in public domain. "No person can print or publish in print, electronic, social media, etc the name of the victim or even in a remote manners disclose any facts which can lead to the victim being identified and which should make her identity known to the public at large," the bench said in its judgement. The court also said that it was because our society treated the victim of a sexually offence like rape worse than the perpetrator of the crime.

The 17-year-old minor girl was returning from a party when she was allegedly sexually assaulted by a group of youngsters in a moving vehicle in the Jubilee Hills area in the city on Saturday. The son of an influential person was allegedly involved in the incident along with four others. The police had earlier registered a case under section 354 (outrage of modesty), 323(voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC, and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against the accused. The girl was sent for medical examination and after it was found that she had been raped, the police altered the case and added section 376 (gang rape) of the IPC.