Rahul Gandhi Gets Notice Under POCSO Act For Sharing Video of Dalit Boys Being Assaulted, Paraded Naked in Maharashtra's Wakadi

Mumbai, June 19: Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been sent a notice under the Prevention of Children From Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act by the Maharashtra Child Commission for sharing the video of Dalit boys being assaulted and paraded naked in Maharashtra's Wakadi village.

The notice was sent based upon the complaint of Mumbai-based activist Amol Jadhav, who has demanded the Maharashtra Child Rights Commission to book Rahul Gandhi under Section 74 of JJ Act, along with Section 23 of POCSO Act for publishing video of "minor victims of the alleged incidence of assault and stripping".

Commission chief Pravin Ghuge took immediate cognizance of the complaint and wrote a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis seeking immediate action.

Congress' state spokesperson Sachin Sawant said the party will issue a statement after receiving the notice and studying its details.

"This is an attempt to divert the issue by the present government. It must be noted that the video in question was already viral on social media networks and uploaded by the perpetrators of the crime themselves," he said.

The alleged incident of stripping and assault was reported on June 15. Three boys, belonging to the Dalit community, were subjected to the torment for swimming in the village pool.

Rahul Gandhi, in his tweet which was embedded with the video, said the "casteist politics" of RSS and BJP was responsible for the assault. "If we don't raise our voices against this politics of hate and poison of the RSS and BJP, history would not forgive us," he had said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 19, 2018 10:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).