Twitter confirms why Rahul Gandhi's account was locked; upholds its rules & impartiality

A day after Congress challenged Twitter's action of blocking Rahul Gandhi's account, the microblogging site in a statement released on Monday asserted that the rules are 'judiciously and impartially' for everyone using its services. Citing the rules, Twitter underlined that if a tweet was in violation of the rules, and the account holder refuses to remove it, the account remains suspended till the time it is removed.

Rahul Gandhi had uploaded the picture of the kin of the victim of the Nangal gangrape and murder and victim. In the caption that he uploaded along with the picture, he wrote, "The tears in the eyes of the parents say that their daughter, the daughter of the country deserves justice." He had added," I am with them in this journey for justice."

Taking cognizance of Rahul Gandhi's post revealing the identity of the parents of the victim, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had written to Twitter, after which the social media giant had first removed the post, and a few days later on Saturday, had 'temporarily suspended' the Congress leader's account.

Twitter releases statement on Rahul Gandhi's account suspension 

Twitter, in its statement dated August 9, further underlined that it has also taken action on several other Tweets that posted the same image, and added that will continue to do so if the content is shared. "Our aim is to protect individuals from coming to physical harm as a result of their information being shared on Twitter and certain types of private information carry higher risks than others, and can pose serious safety and security threats."

"Information shared by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in their legal request submitted via the India Grievance Channel citing specific provisions of the POCSO Act provided context and was taken into account for the assessment," the microblogging site added. 

Shockingly, Congress on Sunday challenged the social media platform to suspend the party's official account as well. The age-old party, resharing the image of the parents of the Nangal rape victims that had violated the rule of the land and reportedly led to the suspension of the former party president's official handle, pointed out that 'nothing' would stop them from 'fighting for injustice' and 'exposing the truth'.

Meanwhile, the Youth Congress will be holding a demonstration outside Twitter's Office in Mumbai and Delhi. Releasing an official announcement, the Youth Congress condemned Twitter's action of locking his account and announced that they will be protesting against this outside the social media platform's office on Monday. The protest will be carried out at 5.30 pm. 

The Nangal case

At about 5.30 pm on August 1, in Delhi's Old Nangal village, a 9-year-old girl, who lived with her parents nearby, went to fetch water from the water cooler of this crematorium. The priest along with the three other accused approached the victim's mother half an hour later, claiming that she died after being electrocuted while getting water from the cooler.

They not only dissuaded the mother from calling the police citing that the doctors "will steal her daughter's organs" but also allegedly made her agree that it was better to cremate the body. Later on, the woman with her husband suspected foul play, and a PCR call was made from the spot. While the statement of the complainant was recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC, the accused have been booked under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 376 (punishment for rape), and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) besides relevant sections of the POSCO Act as well as the SC/ST Act.