The Supreme Court asked the central government to check on cases of rape videos being circulated on instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp and child sex rackets being run on Facebook and other social networking sites, and sought to know if these forums can be prosecuted.
The apex court, however, quashed a plea to block these social networking sites, stating that it was not the solution to these crimes, The Times of India reported.
The head of Hyderabad-based NGO Prajwala, Sunita Krishnan, had written to the Chief Justice of India stating that at least nine rape videos were doing the rounds on WhatsApp.
The court also mentioned a report of an online child sex racket with photos of minor girls running on Facebook with about 3,000 users.
The Hyderabad NGO said that action should be taken against such apps and sites. TOI reported that the NGO also made a plea that these sites should be blocked.
The Supreme Court rejected the plea to block the sites but directed the Centre to check if they can be made accused in these crimes.
"You are now asking blocking of sites. You may later on ask for banning mobile phones. Its not a solution and it cannot be done," the social justice bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and U U Lalit said on Friday, according to the TOI report.
However, Krishnan told IBTimes India that she did not ask for a permanent block on social media sites but only a monitoring mechanisms.
"I did not ask for a permanent block. I pleaded for Facebook to set mechanism to monitor, track and block objectionable material," she said.
"I also asked for also Facebook accountability for hosting paedophile pages and not reporting them to authorities even after citizen reporting," Krishnan added.
Krishnan had launched the 'Shame The Rapist' campaign earlier this year after rape videos were circulated on social media and WhatsApp.
