Duty of govt, court to protect right to dignity of women, says Madras HC

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to take urgent steps to detect, remove, and block the circulation of private images and videos of a woman advocate, which were recorded without her consent and widely shared online.

Justice N Anand Venkatesh instructed the Centre to act within 48 hours and submit a compliance report by July 14. The judge observed that the woman was enduring severe mental trauma as the intimate images and videos continued to surface across pornographic websites, private messaging platforms, and social media despite her efforts to have them taken down.

“This must stop. The dignity of every individual must be upheld,” said the judge, pausing as his voice choked and eyes welled up. “I was just thinking, what if this woman lawyer had been my daughter,” he said.

According to the woman, she had fallen in love with a man during her college days and spent private moments with him, unaware that he was secretly recording it on his mobile phone.

The matter came to light only after the videos were leaked online and widely circulated. She lodged a police complaint on April 1 against the man and a WhatsApp group administrator involved in sharing the videos.

She later approached MeitY on June 18, urging it to direct all intermediaries - including websites, telecom providers, and pornographic platforms - to use advanced technologies like hash matching, PhotoDNA, and AI-based content detection tools to take down the offensive content. However, no action was taken, prompting her to move the court.

Appearing for her, senior counsel Abudu Kumar Rajarathinam urged the court to direct the Tamil Nadu police to work in close coordination with MeitY for the immediate removal of such content upon registration of a complaint. Justice Venkatesh then issued suo motu directions to include the Head of the Police Force as a respondent to the petition.

The judge emphasised the duty of the State and the constitutional courts to protect the fundamental right to dignity, particularly of women who often face stigma, harassment, and secondary victimisation after such incidents.

“Fortunately, she is in this profession and has all of us here. What happens to the silent sufferers who cannot gather the courage to fight,” he asked.