Delhi: FIR registered against AAP’s Saurabh Bharadwaj for revealing identity of Janakpuri sexual assault victim
New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Tuesday registered a case against former Delhi Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Saurabh Bharadwaj for allegedly revealing the identity of a minor sexual assault victim.
According to Delhi Police sources, Bharadwaj allegedly disclosed the victim’s identity — a three-year-old girl sexually assaulted at a school in Janakpuri.
Consequently, the police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against him. The Janakpuri Police are currently investigating the entire matter.
The incident involving the alleged rape of the child within a school campus came to light last month. Responding to the crime, Bharadwaj wrote on the social media platform X: “Today, the youngest ‘cockroach’ in the country is a mere 3-year-old girl. She was raped at a school in Janakpuri. The accused is a 57-year-old senior official of the school.”
Following the incident, he raised serious questions regarding the Delhi Police. According to Bharadwaj, the victim’s mother alleged that the local SHO and DCP were pressuring her to suppress the case. The AAP leader had stated that the victim’s parents were demanding a re-examination at AIIMS, but the police were unwilling to facilitate it, adding that the young victim had not yet received justice.
He asked, “Why is the police unwilling to conduct a medical examination of the innocent three-year-old at AIIMS? Who is shielding the senior school official and the accused? Under this government, will every victim receive justice only when a massive uproar erupts on social media?”
On May 13, Bharadwaj, along with women councillors, staged a protest outside the Raj Bhavan over the case, demanding action against police officials accused of intimidating the survivor’s family. AAP leaders stated they had sought an appointment with the Lieutenant Governor via letter and email regarding the matter.
A delegation, including former mayor Shelly Oberoi and several women councillors, later briefly interacted with officials at the Raj Bhavan, where they were informed that a meeting time would be communicated via email, according to an official statement.
Earlier in January, 2024, an FIR was lodged against Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, for revealing minor rape victim’s identity via social media ‘X’.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on January 24 had said in the Delhi High Court that he has taken down his tweet allegedly disclosing the identity and details about the minor girl, who was raped and murdered in 2021 in the national capital. Accordingly, the bench, also comprising Justice Manmeet P.S. Arora, disposed of a 2021 ‘public interest litigation’ by Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar, who claims to be a social activist, seeking an FIR in the matter.
The case was related to an incident in which a nine-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered inside a crematorium in 2021 in the Delhi Cantonment area. Following the gruesome incident, Gandhi had met the victim girl’s family and posted on his social media handle along with a photograph of the girl with her parents, in which the victim’s identity was allegedly disclosed.