“Followed Rules,” Says BJP’s Amit Malviya in Response to Bengal Commission

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionary Amit Malviya informed the The West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights on Monday that he did not infringe any law or guideline of the Supreme Court while putting out a picture of a girl child following her unnatural death in South 24 Parganas in Bengal on June 16.

“It is respectfully submitted that the tweet does not disclose the identity of the victim in any manner. The image used in the tweet was deliberately and entirely blurred and no personal details such as the name, address, or particulars of the victim or her family were revealed,” Malviya, head of the BJP’s national IT cell, in his reply to the show cause notice that was issued by the commission on June 20 after it took suo motu cognizance of Malviya's June 19 post on X.

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The commission stated that despite the attempt to digitally blur the minor girl's image, she could be easily identified and that this was a clear violation of the Juvenile Justice Act.

In his reply, which he shared on social media, Malviya wrote: “As such, the tweet does not violate any provisions of applicable law, including the POCSO Act, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the guidelines issued by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). Additionally, the tweet is in complete consonance with the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Nipun Saxena vs Union of India, (2019) 2 SCC 703, which emphasized safeguarding the identity and privacy of victims of sexual offences.”

In the June 9 post, the BJP leader made allegations that the incident had a communal angle.

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He wrote: “...Mamata Banerjee’s governance has been an unmitigated disaster for women’s safety. Worse still, the administration is suppressing the incident, citing “communal sensitivity” — because the victim is Hindu and the accused are Muslim. This is not secularism. This is state-sponsored injustice...”

The West Bengal police posted a response on X on June 20, calling the allegations by Malviya a lie, and stating that what the post mortem examination had revealed was that the minor had died after she had consumed poison, and that there was no evidence of sexual assault whatsoever.

Malviya maintained his allegations in his reply to the commission.

He wrote: “The intent of the tweet was to highlight the deteriorating law and order situation in the state of West Bengal and the increasing incidents of crimes against women....the tweet was made in good faith, in public interest, and in furtherance of constitutional freedoms, and not in violation of any legal provisions, as alleged.”

“It is also pertinent to mention that the National Commission for Women (NCW) has taken suo-moto cognizance of the incident, thereby recognizing the gravity of the offence referred to in the tweet,” he added.

Commission members did not make any public statement on the Malviya reply until late Monday evening.

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