"They just cannot be in public domain, it is very clear."
A petition created by an Indian rape victim forces global tech companies to tackle online sex abuse. They will meet for talks in India about this rising issue between 5th and 20th April 2017.
Officials from companies such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft will talk with the IT Ministry of India.
The overall aim will be to prevent Indians access to online sex abuse. This includes child pornography and sexual assault.
The idea for the talks came from 44-year-old Sunitha Krishnan’s petition. Abused in a gang rape aged only 15, Sunitha Krishnan now works as a campaigner against sexual abuse.
She created the petition and took it all the way to the Supreme Court, with additional help from activist and lawyer, Aparna Bhat.
She discovered sexual abuse also circulates on the Internet. In 2015, Sunitha wrote a letter to former Chief Justice HL Dattu, informing him of these disgusting online sex abuse videos and demanded action should be taken.
Therefore, on the 22nd March 2017, Supreme Court has ordered worldwide tech companies to travel to India for the crucial talks. Ajay Kumar, Additional Secretary of the IT Ministry, will also become the chairman of the meeting.
The Supreme Court bench said:
“The committee will assist and advise the court on the feasibility of ensuring that videos of rapes, gang-rapes and child pornography are not available to the general public. They just cannot be in public domain, it is very clear.”
This results as a huge victory for campaigner Sunitha Krishnan. In February 2016, she posted an edited YouTube video, showing a gang rape and began a movement called “#ShameTheRapistCampaign”. She asked viewers to help in identifying the attackers.
But she soon discovered that online sex abuse becomes a source of blackmail for attackers to keep their victims quiet.
Over the years, Sunitha has become a big figure in tackling Indian sexual abuse. Also as part of her work, she launched Prajwala which aims to support and rescue girls caught in sexual trafficking.
Currently, Prajwala has successfully saved more than 10,000 girls and also provided them shelter.
Now the crucial talks are taking place in April 2017. Hopefully, it will help end the disturbing rise of online sex abuse.
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