Delhi High Court Orders to remove photographs posted mischievously on pornographic website

Rida Farid Bazmi | Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad | 22nd July 2020

“X” v Union of India & Ors. (W.P (Crl) 1082 / 2020)

Facts:  

The Petitioner (identity kept confidential), a law student from Bangalore have filed a complaint stating that her pictures from social media platform i.e Instagram and Facebook have mischievously and illegally been lifted and posted on a pornographic website along with derogatory captions by the respondents. The Petitioner also made an online complaint to DCP South West, Delhi, but to no avail.

Submission:  

The petitioner certainly believes that Respondent No. 5 is a spurious website, that uploads pornographic content and ought to be banned and taken-down from the world-wide-web by the competent authorities. The counsels also add that Respondent No. 5 has unauthorizedly, illegally and in utter violation of provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2002 and the Indian Penal Code, 1860, have posted the petitioner’s photographs on that website causing her deep distress, anguish and embarrassment. 

The Counsel further submitted that petitioner believes that due to the inaction on the part of the competent authorities, her photographs have already viewed 15,000 times. The Counsel also submits that Facebook Inc, which owns Instagram, should also be held liable under its privacy and cyber safety norms.

The counsel appearing on behalf of the State of NCT of Delhi submits that the petitioner’s complaint has been received at PS: Dwarka, North and may be transferred to Cyber Prevention Awareness and Detection Unit (CyPAD) as it is a specialised unit equipped to deal with cyber crimes matter. The Counsel also submits that immediate steps would be taken to first take-down the petitioner’s photographs that are uploaded on to the errant website and a necessary investigation will be conducted to trace and punish the offenders.

Observation:  

In the light of the above submissions, the Delhi High Court directed that the complaint should be transferred forthwith to the CyPAD unit of Delhi Police and immediate action should be taken to remove the petitioner’s photographs from the errant website. The matter is listed for 30^th July,20.