While Delhi carries the infamous tag of being the most unsafe city for women, another shocking incident seems to have added more weight to it.
In the latest incident, a 22-year-old Delhi University student went through a horrific ordeal that saw her make frantic pleas with authorities for more than two weeks to get a burst of embarrassing photographs featuring her removed from the internet.
While the girl continued to plead with the authorities to get the photographs removed, the government’s Department of Technology asked her to get a court order before taking any steps to remove the content under new guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court.
According to a report in Mail Today, the girl found her nude pictures circulating on porn websites, allegedly uploaded by her ex-boyfriend. She said that her decision to join the college’s dance society didn’t go down well with the accused, resulting in a breakup.
Three months later, she received a call from a friend who informed her about the photographs.
“My friend told me that they have been allegedly uploaded by my ex. However, it was not just my friends; I also received messages from strangers. The links went viral and made it difficult for me to go out of the house,” the girl was quoted by as saying.
The girl then approached the police and registered an FIR on January 7. The police immediately lodged a case under the Information and Technology Act and also booked the accused for criminal intimidation.
However, when the girl approached the Department of Technology to get the offensive content blocked and removed, the officials cited the requirement of a court order without which they could not initiate any action in the matter.
In the judgment Shreya Singhal V Union of India, the Supreme Court in 2015 laid down that the intermediary must receive a court order or a notification from a government agency for removing specific information and only then can be obligated to take down the content. Whereas before that, the intermediary would be required to block or remove access to illegal content upon receiving knowledge of any such illegality by either on its own or by an affected person.
The police finally obtained the order on January 23, after which the content was removed immediately and a team was sent to Guwahati to look for the accused.
The new law has not gone down well with cyber experts who believe that it does more damage to victims of cyber-bullying and other forms of online abuse.
“Getting a court order is such a lengthy and exhaustive process and it adds to the woes of the victims,” said cyber expert and advocate Prashant Mali.
