CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to consider introducing cyber patrolling to prevent uploading of non-consensual intimate images (NCII) and videos on digital platforms, on the lines of the Cyber Patrolling and Intelligence Team constituted for real-time crack down on online frauds including digital arrest.
Concurring with the submissions made by senior counsel Abudu Kumar Rajaratnam on the issue, the judge said, “The second respondent (DGP) shall also consider introducing such cyber patrolling insofar as preventing videos/intimate images in the category of NCII.”
The direction was issued when the petition filed by a woman advocate praying for orders to the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology came up for hearing.
Abudu Kumar submitted that the Tamil Nadu Cyber Crime Wing has brought out a dedicated Cyber Patrol and Intelligence Team to proactively monitor and counter illegal, fraudulent activities in the cyber space with the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to identify cyber scams. As soon as information on suspicious activity is received, the Cyber Command Centre maps the geographic location and issues alerts to the jurisdictional police immediately to prevent fraudulent activity.
This mechanism shall be extended to take action against pornographic sites as it directly involves dignity of the women; and if such prevention mechanisms can be made, the pornographic sites can be blocked immediately when objectionable images and videos are uploaded, he said.
Referring to eight websites still hosting the NCII contents, the judge directed the DGP to take immediate action to block them.
Meanwhile, senior panel counsel for the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology A Kumaraguru filed the minutes of an expert committee constituted for devising a standard operating procedure for dealing with cyberattacks on women.
“It is clear from the above that the ministry concerned is in the process of formulating the standard operating procedure and experts form part of the committee. This court expects the panel to finalise the SOP at the earliest,” the judge said.
Judge to watch ‘Manushi’ before ruling on CBFC cuts
Chennai: Justice N Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court on Tuesday said he would watch Vetrimaaran’s film ‘Manushi’ before deciding on the 37 cuts ordered by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). When the filmmaker’s petition challenging the cuts was heard, his counsel objected to the board’s condition. The judge scheduled a private screening on August 24 at the Music College theatre, directing CBFC officials and Vetrimaaran to attend, before ruling on the matter.