Delhi HC issues notices to media houses for disclosing #Kathua rape victim’s identity

On Friday, the Delhi High Court issued notices to several media houses for disclosing the identity of the eight-year-old girl who was gangraped and killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district, PTI reported.

Following media reports that revealed the girl’s identity, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar, which took up the issue on its own, has sought responses from media houses as to “why action should not be taken against them” on the matter.

On January 10, the eight-year-old girl from a nomadic Bakerwal Muslim community had disappeared from near her home in the forests next to Rasana village in Kathua. A week later, her body was found in the same area. As matters stand now, the state police Crime Branch has filed a charge sheet against seven accused persons and a separate charge sheet against a juvenile in a court in Kathua district earlier this week.

Following the Delhi High Court’s notice, CNN-News18 tweeted out that it would no longer use the “name and image of the Kathua rape victim”.