SEXUAL PRIVACY AND ITS VIOLATION: A DESPERATE NEED FOR LEGISLATION

Abstract

In 2017, the judgement passed in the case of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd) v UOI which held that Right to Privacy shall come under the purview of Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India had created a massive impact on the policies of both the Government and various other private entities and how they function and handle sensitive personal information of the citizens and the users or subscribers of their services respectively. What has gone largely unnoticed and has not nearly received as much attention as it should have done was the petition filed by the NGO Prajwala seeking a change in the policies and the approach of both the government and private organizations and intermediaries with respect to dissemination and dealing with videos and images containing sexually explicit content such as rape/gang-rape (called sensitive and private information) of women and children. The laws that currently exist deal with the circulation of images and videos of pornographic content but no express provision for those data containing very sensitive private information in the Information Technology Act, 2000 and thus can’t be classified as a cybercrime.

Perhaps for the first time any cognizance of this alarming issue was taken by the Hyderabad- based NGO Prajwala which wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of India, following which the Supreme Court took a suo moto action. After the hearings and proceedings, several directions were given to the government regarding the setting up of a vigil mechanism and portal for lodging complaints and seeking help. The intermediaries were also directed to modify their policy of privacy both with respect to the rights speech and expression and also for the rights of those whose videos in sexually compromising positions are created and circulated.

The main points of discussion in this paper shall be first; the revolution in privacy matters brought about by the Puttaswamy judgement; second, the failure of the government or any other organization to take any action before the letter was sent to the Chief Justice of India by Prajwala, third; the lack of appropriate and specific laws for such a sensitive subject in any statute in India, fourth; the Directions given by the Supreme Court and the recommendations of the appointed committee, and lastly; how have the policies been implemented and have there been any substantive changes.