SC Tells Centre To Get Portal For Filing Complaints On Child Sexual Abuse, Related Crimes Ready By Jan 10 [Read Order]

The Supreme Court has directed the Union of India to have the portal for making complaints by citizens with regard to issues pertaining to child sexual abuse, child pornography and rape/ gangrape videos, ready on or before January 10, 2018.

 A bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice UU Lalit made this observation during in-camera proceedings held in the matter of RE: Prajwala Letter Dated 18.2.2015 Videos of Sexual Violence and Recommendations.

After hearing the submission on behalf of the Union of India that standard operating procedures are being prepared for use of the portal, the bench observed: “The matter has been pending for quite some time and we find from the affidavit filed by the CBI on 08.10.2015 that steps are being taken to enable complaints being filed through a portal. It is high time that the Union of India gets the portal ready and available to the public at large.”

During the last hearing in October, the bench had asked the Union Government to file a status report. Perusing the report filed, the bench said: “Unfortunately, on going through the status report, it is found to be more in the nature of comments rather than a status report. We expect the Union of India to file a proper detailed status report rather than comments on the orders passed by this Court.”