CHENNAI: The union government on Tuesday informed the Madras High Court that an expert committee will be constituted to discuss and frame a standard operating procedure (SOP) to deal with cyberattacks targeting women, especially the uploading of non-consensual intimate images (NCII) and videos on digital platforms.
Senior panel counsel A Kumaraguru, appearing for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), made the submission before Justice N Anand Venkatesh when a petition filed by a woman advocate came up for hearing. She had sought directions to MeitY to take down NCII content, uploaded by her former friend, and to block websites hosting such videos.
“Considering the sensitive nature of the matter and the rapidly evolving technological landscape, it is proposed to constitute a committee comprising officials from MeitY, Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD),” he submitted.
The committee, to be chaired by a joint secretary of MeitY, will frame an SOP for combating dissemination of NCII content, consisting of legal and technical solutions for immediate and long term action including steps to be taken by the victim.
Senior counsel Abudu Kumar Rajaratnam, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that 13 more video links to the NCII contents have resurfaced. Referring to this, the judge noted that the content reappears “like Ravana’s head, even after being chopped off,” and called upon MeitY to consider taking action similar to that taken during Operation Sindoor, when websites were blocked for hosting adverse content.