Statutory mechanism for offensive internet content is must, says Supreme Court judge

Senior Supreme Court Judge and Executive Chairperson of National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) Justice Uday Umesh Lalit on Sunday felt the need for a statutory mechanism that could detect and delete pornographic or other offensive contents from the internet soon after it is uploaded.

Addressing an interactive session on Child Rights at Rabindra Satabarshiki Bhavan, Agartala, he said that NALSA would be working in this direction to bring about a statutory mechanism that can act as a remedy for the victims of such crimes.

"I had an occasion as a judge when the internet services providers informed me that the platforms were like a highway and anybody could post anything on that. And, to offload or remove the offensive content. It may take 72 hours. But, in this period the reputation of the child or the victim gets such a beating that it becomes irreversible," Justice Lalit told the gathering.

According to him, apart from child trafficking and child abuse child pornography should be equally taken care of.

"It will be NALSA's future endeavour to develop a statutory mechanism to deal with such problems. In other advanced countries like the US, the AI facilities installed with the internet servers immediately pick up such offensive content and send a red alert to the local police. Within 15 minutes the accused gets arrested. In our country, we should also think in that direction," said Justice Lalit.

The Supreme Court judge also expressed his concerns on the condition of government schools.

"We should not only think of educating people. We must ensure that children can say it out loud that the education he or she is receiving in the government schools is at par with the quality of education being imparted in the private schools," he added citing references of public sector institutes like IITs, IIMs, AIIMs which are considered to be the coveted institutes in the country.

He also cited the example of Bihar where the spread of education brought the participation of girls and boys neck and neck in government schools and reduced the overall fertility rate.

Meanwhile, Justice Hrishikesh Roy, judge Supreme Court of Indian, Chief Justice Tripura High court Indrajit Mahanty, Justice Subhasish Talapatra, judge Tripura High Court and executive chairperson State Legal Service Authority also spoke on the occasion.

Other judges of Tripura High Court and Higher officials of Tripura State Legal Service Authority also attended the function.