Can rape videos be blocked: Supreme Court asks Centre

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the ministry of information technology to find out whether a mechanism can be created to block objectionable sexual videos, particularly involving children from being uploaded in social media like Facebook and Whatsapp and once uploaded they can be removed or blocked.

The Social justice Bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Uday Lalit gave this direction while hearing a petition relating to initiation of action for uploading of gang rape videos of rape, including a crime perpetrated by a gang of four men on a young woman, as per a report published in the Asian Age.

The Bench in February had taken suo motu cognisance of a letter written to the former Chief Justice of India HL Dattu by Hyderabad-based NGO Prajwala 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 submitted before the bench that last month 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 in whatsapp and Facebook.

The SC also pulled up the States for their failure to respond to several communications from the Centre on appointment of juvenile justice boards and probationary officers under these Boards for the welfare of juveniles.

Taking a serious view of the lapse, the Social Justice Bench comprising said at the first instance it would summon the chief secretaries of the four states of Assam, AP, WB and UP for their personal appearance.