The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the removal of all social media posts, including names, photos, and videos, related to a trainee doctor who was raped and murdered at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
A bench led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud stated that revealing the identity of a sexual assault victim breaches a previous Supreme Court order established 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.
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"The bench, which includes Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, stated, 'Pictures and video clips of the deceased's body have been circulating on social media. We direct that the name, photographs, and video clippings of the deceased be immediately removed from all social media platforms.' The Supreme Court was addressing a plea filed by lawyer Kinnori Ghosh and others challenging the disclosure of the victim's identity on 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 There are judgments of the court like in Nipun Saxena (case) that names of survivors of sexual assault will not be published," the apex court said.