SC Seeks Steps to Keep Child Sexual Abuse Material Offline
Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K. Vinod Chandran asked the Centre to consider measures to prevent such material from appearing online.
New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Thursday termed the issue of Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Material (CSEAM) “extremely serious” and asked the Centre to focus on preventing such material from being uploaded or surfacing online.
Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K. Vinod Chandran asked the Centre to consider measures to prevent such material from appearing online.
The court was hearing a plea filed by the Just Rights for Children Alliance through its founder Bhuwan Ribhu, seeking effective implementation of directions issued by the Supreme Court in its September 23, 2024 judgment in Just Rights for Children Alliance & Anr vs S. Harish & Ors.
The petitioner submitted that nearly two years had passed since the judgment but its directions had not been effectively implemented.
The Centre said it would file an affidavit and an action-taken report and informed the court that a standard operating procedure (SOP) was being prepared.
On August 14, the court had directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Ministry of Law and Justice to file their response. As no report was filed, the court gave the Centre “one last opportunity” to place it on record.
The Centre has been asked to explain the measures it proposes to take to implement the September 2024 judgment and prevent CSEAM from surfacing online.
The draft SOP will be served on the petitioner four to five days before the next hearing to enable it to offer comments.
The matter will be heard next on October 15.
