As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, a total number of 1203 cases in 2013, 758 cases in 2014 and 816 cases in 2015 were registered under publishing/ transmitting of obscene/sexually explicit content (Section 67- 67 C of Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000) in electronic form which shows a mixed trend. This includes a total number of 599 and 606 cases of insult to the modesty of women during 2014 and 2015 respectively. Apart from the above, the Government has set up a Cell with a dedicated email id i.e. complaint-mwcd@gov.in to report complaints relating to online trolling/harassment with effect from July, 2016. So far, 97 complaints have been received through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
Information Technology Act, 2000 with its last amendment in the year 2008 provides for punishment for various cyber crimes including those particularly targeted against women and children. This includes Section 67, 67 A & 67B dealing with punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material, sexually explicit material and material depicting children in sexually explicit act, etc., respectively in electronic form. This Act also provides for certain due diligence to be observed by the Intermediaries such as social media sites and requires them to disable or remove any unlawful material. There is no proposal with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for any changes in the IT Act at present.
This information was given by Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Smt Krishna Raj in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
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