SC enquires Centre's view on blocking objectionable videos on social media

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Ministry of Information Technology to find a solution to block objectionable sexual videos, particularly the ones involving children, from being uploaded on the social media applications like Facebook and Whatsapp and once uploaded they can be removed or blocked.

The Bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Uday Lalit gave this direction while hearing a petition related to initiation of action for uploading of rape videos, including a crime perpetrated by a gang of four men on a young woman.

The Bench in February had taken suo motu cognisance of a letter written to the former Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu by Hyderabad-based NGO Prajwala by sending a pen drive containing two videos highlighting the crime committed by the gang and seeking appropriate action against the culprits.

Dr. Sunita Krishnan of Prajwala who appeared before the bench last month said that there was a crack down on a website in which over 3,500 children who were victims of child trafficking had shared their experiences. It was later found that many children were indulging in prostitution and Kerala registered a case against four persons. In another incident in Maharashtra, four classmates had video recorded a rape of a student and posted it on whatsapp and Facebook. She said many such videos were still available on the social media. She said the offence of rape was being committed with impunity and the offenders had the audacity to video record the crime and put it on the public domain. This has had a negative impact on the criminal justice system and there is no mechanism to prohibit such contents from being uploaded.

The bench issued notice to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting seeking its response on what action the government could do to prevent such videos from being uploaded and how to remove such video clips if they are found on the social media. It also sought the creation of a national register containing the details of those convicted for sexual crimes, including molestation, stalking and rape.