Tell how you can stop rape video circulation: SC to IT ministry

The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the information technology ministry on how it (ministry) can assist in the reporting and blocking of videos of rapes on social network websites under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The social justice bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit sought the response from the ministry after social activist Sunitha Krishnan told the court that there has to be a defined place where one could report about such rape videos and seek their blocking.

Krishnan, of NGO Prajwala which is engaged in rescue and rehabilitation of victims of sex trafficking, told the court that besides nine complaints the CBI was investigating, she has another 90 cases but there was no single authority to which she could go to lodge a complaint for follow-up action for blocking such videos from circulation.

She told the court that social network sites do act on complaints made by her and block circulation of videos showing rape, but she urged the court to put in place some temporary arrangement where one could go and lodge a complaint.

Seeking a multi-disciplinary agency, Krishnan said the IT ministry could help in blocking such videos.

"Some measure have to be taken for reporting of matters under Section 19, 20 and 21 of the POCSO Act," the court was told.

The court's order came in the course of a hearing in the wake of a letter sent by the Hyderabad-based NGO Prajwala along with two rape videos in a pen drive that showed a man raping a woman and another man filming it.