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Centre told to crack down on rape videos on social network sites
The Supreme Court directed the Centre on Friday to crack down on rape videos uploaded on social networking sites and consider having a dedicated a helpline to lodge complaints against such crimes.
The Supreme Court directed the Centre on Friday to crack down on rape videos uploaded on social networking sites and consider having a dedicated a helpline to lodge complaints against such crimes.
Issuing notice to the Ministries of Information and Broadcasting and Information Technology for seeking their response on the proposed action to prevent such videos from being uploaded, a bench of Justice MB Lokur and Justice UU Lalit said: “The government must crack down on these offenders and take steps to remove these objectionable videos.”
The bench was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by an NGO Prajwala after two rape videos were uploaded on Youtube in January this year.
Sunita Krishnan, founder of Prajwala, appeared in person before the court and made a startling revelation that she has in possession of more than 90 such rape videos that were uploaded on such sites. She complained there was no mechanism to lodge a protest against those behind this.
“It’s a very serious matter”, the bench observed asking the Centre tell the court by the next hearing the steps it intends to tackle the menace.
The court also pointed out that the government can initiate action against the culprits under the provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, as several videos include child victims.
Prajwala wants the SC to direct the Centre to create a national register to maintain a record of those convicted for sexual crimes, including molestation, stalking and rape.
