Child rights commission notice is an attempt to divert the issue: Congress

MUMBAI: The notice served by the Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Right to the Congress President Rahul Gandhi for disclosing the identity of two minor Dalit atrocity victims of the Wakdi village in Jalgaon District, is an attempt to divert people's attention from the issue, the Congress has said.

Two minor boys were beaten up for swimming in a well at Wakdi village in Jalgaon district last week. A video of the two naked boys being thrashed by owners of the well was circulated over the social media. Rahul Gandhi, while condemning the incident, had shared the video over micro-blogging site Twitter.

However, the Commission for Protection of Child Right served him a notice saying that the act of sharing the video over Twitter has violated the provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO)."Rahul Gandhi has disclosed the identity of the underage victims. The video shared by him had not masked the faces of the children. This is in violation of the section 23 POCSO. We received a complaint in this regard after which we have initiated the action," said Pravin Ghuga, chairperson of the Commission.

The complainant, Amol Jadhav, has also sought action against the micro-blogging site Twitter, responding to which the commission has slapped a notice to them."We have sought a reply from them as to why an action shouldn't be initiated against them in the case," Ghuge said and added that the Commission also expects the police to initiate action on their level in the case.

However, Maharashtra state President of the Congress, Ashok Chavan has termed the notice as an attempt to divert the debate."The act was deplorable and such acts have increased during the BJP regimen. Rahul Gandhi had tried to present the fact through his tweet. But, a deliberate attempt is being made to divert people's attention from the points he had raised," Chavan has said.