As per the reports published in English daily, the Supreme Court has rejected an appeal for banning the social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc., however the court has questioned the Government of India on Friday, whether it is possible to take legal action against Facebook and WhatsApp for the abusive and obscene content posted on their networks.
This question has been asked by the Social Justice Bench of Supreme Court, comprising of Justices Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit, after two cases have came into their consideration. In one case, people are booked for circulating videos of rape through the messaging platform WhatsApp in Mumbai and in the second case; people are booked for running a sex racket through social networking website Facebook. However, no action was taken against these platforms despite the fact that everything happened through them.
The Central Government has earlier intimated the Supreme Court that it is very difficult to recognize people who upload sexual content through their mobile phones however it is possible to catch them if they post it through their computers.
Prajwala, An NGO from Hyderabad, had said in its appeal that action should be taken against these social networking sites or they should be blocked completely, to which the bench replied, “You are now asking blocking of sites. You may later on ask for banning mobile phones. It’s not a solution and it cannot be done. Let the government first respond to the issue and then we will consider.”
The court has asked the Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh to consider the matter as to why these networking sites have not been booked by the police of Kerala and Maharashtra.
Earlier the bench has also ordered a CBI inquiry after the complaint made by the NGO.
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