A petition filed in the Supreme Court by complainants Kinnari Ghosh and Tushar Roy, requesting to protect the identity of a Kolkata murder victim. They argue that the widespread sharing of the victim’s photo and details about her family on social media is harming the family’s reputation.
New Delhi: In the case concerning the rape and murder of a female trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, a petition has been submitted to the Supreme Court.
The petition seeks the removal of the victim’s photograph, name, and identity from various social media platforms.
Filed by complainants Kinnari Ghosh and Tushar Roy, represented by their lawyer Rishi Kumar Singh Gautam, the petition argues that the public disclosure of the victim’s image and her family’s identity is harming the reputation of her family.
The petition named almost all major social media platforms as respondents.
According to the petition submitted to the Supreme Court, the Secretary of the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the West Bengal government, as well as social media giants Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Google, YouTube, and msn.com, have been included as parties in the case.
The case scheduled to be heard on August 20 by a bench comprising Chief Justice Dhananjay Yashwant Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Mishra.
The incident in question occurred on August 9, when a 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor was raped and murdered while on duty at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. A civic volunteer arrested the following day in connection with the crime.
As protests continue over the incident, unidentified individuals entered the hospital premises shortly after midnight on Thursday and vandalized parts of the facility where the doctor’s body had been discovered the previous week.
In response to the rape-murder and the subsequent attack on RG Kar Hospital, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) called for a 24-hour strike on Saturday.
The petition before the Supreme Court highlights the critical need to balance the public’s right to information with the victim’s family’s right to privacy, as it seeks to prevent further harm caused by the widespread circulation of sensitive information on social media.