AIZAWL, March 19: Taking
strong exception to the disclosure of the identities of minors
accused in the lynching of a 16-
year-old boy at Khawzawl on
Sunday, the Chairperson of the
Mizoram State Commission for
Protection of Child Rights today wrote a strongly-worded
letter to the Champhai SP, under whose jurisdiction Khawzawl falls, asking him to find out
the persons responsible for this.
As has already been reported, H Lalmuankima (16) of Tualpui village, who was appearing in his matriculation
examination at Khawzawl,
was beaten up by a group of
young boys on Sunday
evening. The teenager succumbed to multiple injuries at
the hospital a few hours later.
Later, on Sunday night, the
news about the Khawzawl Police arresting eight accused,
along with their names, ages
and fathers’ names, circulated
on the social media. All the accused are under the age of 18.
The Commission Chairperson, Sangzuali Vanchhawng, in
her letter, stated: “Whereas all
the accused apprehended by
Khawzawl police are juvenile,
i.e. below 18 years of age, their
identity is widely circulated on
social media, viz, Facebook and
WhatsApp.”
The disclosure of the identities of the juvenile accused
is blatant violation of Section
74 of the Juvenile Justice Act
2015 and this Commission has
viewed the matter seriously,
the letter said.
As the information disclosing the identities of the accused that has been leaked in
the social media “seems to
have originated from the police report in view of the writing style and its contents,” the
Commission requested the
Champhai SP to find out the
persons responsible for this,
take disciplinary action against
them immediately and report
the same to the commission.
The Commission Chairperson disclosed this during
an interaction with media
persons in which the
NCPCR’s handbook for media professionals was distributed among journalists.
~Assam Tribune
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