Twitter also locked accounts belonging to Mr Gandhi and five other party leaders (Representational)
The official Twitter handles of the Congress and around 5,000 of its leaders and workers have been locked, the party claimed Thursday, amid growing controversy over "selective" action against Rahul Gandhi and others for posting photographs that show Mr Gandhi interacting with the family of the nine-year-old Dalit girl who was allegedly raped and killed in Delhi last week.
This morning's Instagram post contained a screenshot of the Congress' account and a message from Twitter that said it had been locked because it "violated Twitter rules" regarding publishing or posting other people's private information without their express authorisation and permission".
"Modiji, just how afraid are you? Reminder: The Congress party fought for our nation's independence, equipped only with truth, non-violence & the will of the people. We won then, we'll win again," the Congress said.
Twitter has said its rules are "enforced judiciously and impartially for everyone", and that it took "proactive action on several hundred tweets that posted an image that violated our Rules".
The company said it was alerted by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, or NCPCR, "about specific content on our platform that allegedly revealed the identity of an alleged sexual assault victim's (and a minor's) parents".
"We reviewed it against Twitter Rules and policies, as well as the concerns expressed as a matter of the Indian law..." a company spokesperson said, adding, "... If a tweet is found to be in violation of the Twitter Rules, and has yet to be deleted by the account holder, we hide it behind a notice and the account remains locked until the tweet is removed or the appeal is successfully processed."
According to the 'help' section on Twitter's website, a 'locked' account means the user cannot tweet and "can only send Direct Messages to followers". The user "will not be able to engage in actions such as tweeting, retweeting, or liking, and only followers can see past tweets."
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who heads the parliamentary IT panel, has said he is "actively engaged with Twitter" to restore all accounts, and accused the BJP of "trying to undermine the opposition".
"I have taken a firm stand on this and am actively engaged to restore the accounts. It is a sad reflection... the way the BJP is trying to undermine the opposition," he said.
Mr Tharoor also acknowledged that Twitter was acting to comply with the law, but warned "automatically locking accounts is an extreme step... stifles freedom of expression". He called for "expeditious action" against the perpetrators of the horrific crime rather than Mr Gandhi.
"... outrage of the rape, murder and hasty cremation of a nine-year-old Dalit girl shocked the nation's conscience. It demands expeditious action, not against Rahul Gandhi for a technical violation of law, but against those who were complicit in this human tragedy," he tweeted.
"I understand Twitter's position that it has no choice but block accounts that violate Indian law and Twitter policy. While the law is what it is, policy can be reviewed. Automatically locking accounts is an extreme step that stifles the freedom of expression of Indian citizens," he added.
Action against Congress handles was after an NCPCR notice sought deletion of Mr Gandhi's post.
Under existing laws - the Juvenile Justice Act and the POCSO Act - it is illegal to disclose the identity of a minor via any form of media, or publish any information that may reveal his/her identity.
However, Twitter's actions have provoked a furious backlash from the Congress, which has accused the government of intimidating the company. The party has also referred to similar images tweeted by accounts belonging to BJP Lok Sabha MP Anju Bala and the Scheduled Castes Commission.
"Twitter is clearly acting under government pressure... it did not remove the same pictures shared by the accounts of National Commission for Scheduled Castes for a few days," AICC social media head Rohan Gupta told news agency PTI.
This morning Pranav Jha, the party's Secretary in-Charge for Communication tweeted, tagging Prime Minister Modi, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Twitter chief Jack Dorsey.
Last week too, when the account was still operational, the Congress had said no action had been taken against two other verified accounts that tweeted the same picture - of the family of the Delhi girl.
With input from PTI