The Delhi High Court has issued notices to social media platforms Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for uploading content which revealed the identity of the eight-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir. The notices were issued on Friday after the Indian arms of these platforms told the bench that they were not the concerned entity to reply to the court’s notice on the issue, said PTI.

“You have done a great disservice to the nation. India has been branded… It is an injustice to the nation and to the victim’s family. This kind of publication is not permissible,” a bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Hari Shankar said. The bench also said messages and images were circulated on WhatsApp showing India in a bad light. It also observed that the entities cannot absolve themselves for the illegal activities on their websites and the law was the same for everyone.

It also asked the counsel for the foreign entities to take instructions as to how much they were willing to deposit to the Jammu and Kashmir Victim Compensation Fund as compensation for the victim.  The bench stayed the proceedings initiated by the Press Council of India (PCI) under the Press Council Act against some of the media houses for disclosing the identity of the child. PCI has initiated the proceedings on receiving a reference from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting regarding the suo motu cognisance taken by the high court in the Kathua rape case. The court listed the matter for further hearing on May 29.

The bench had earlier observed that the names or photographs of a sexual abuse victim should not be revealed as such actions have long-term “detrimental consequences”. On April 18, it had directed 12 media houses to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each for revealing the identity of the child. It had also indicated that it may enhance this amount, which has to be deposited in the Jammu and Kashmir Victim Compensation Fund. The media houses had apologised before the court. Later, the bench added several other media houses and websites and asked them to pay the amount and file their response as to why action be not taken against them for disclosing the identity of the rape victim.