The Delhi High Court has put on hold the trial court proceedings against Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor, who is facing charges for allegedly sharing a copy of an FIR on social media in a minor’s sexual assault case.
Justice Ravinder Dudeja, while issuing notice on Kapoor’s petition challenging the framing of charges, directed that the proceedings before the trial court remain stayed until the next hearing on March 23, 2026.
Kapoor came under scrutiny in June 2021 after he allegedly posted on social media the FIR copy and images related to a case involving a 42-year-old woman, who had been arrested the same night for allegedly sexually assaulting and threatening a minor girl. He was subsequently booked for circulating details of the survivor, an act penalised under Section 23 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The offence carries a maximum sentence of one year’s imprisonment.
A trial court recently framed charges against him under this provision, holding that the alleged disclosure warranted prosecution.
Appearing before the high court, Kapoor’s counsel argued that the screenshots of the FIR shared online were of such poor quality that they were unreadable. According to the defence, no reasonable person could have inferred the survivor’s identity or understood any sensitive details from the images posted in the tweet.
The high court will now examine the legality of the trial court’s order framing charges, with the next hearing scheduled for March 2026.
