Technology

Twitter faces avalanche of FIRs for distorted map, child porn

Wednesday, 30 June 2021 | PNS | New Delhi

Twitter is facing the heat in India  for the display of the distorted map of the country and allowing access to child pornography. Three fresh cases have been registered against the microblogging platform in the last 24 hours in three States.

With this, the number of cases against the US-based microblogging platform has now gone up to four, including the one filed by the UP Police earlier this month in the Ghaziabad assault incident.

The first case was registered against Twitter in Khurja, Uttar Pradesh, for showing the wrong map of India on its website, while the second one registered by the Delhi Police cyber cell based on a complaint it received from National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) last month for allowing access to child pornography on the microblogging platform. The third case was registered by Bhopal cyber cell under Section 505 of the Information Technology Act for wrong representation of India’s map on its website.

A Bajrang Dal activist registered a case against Twitter in Khurja for showing the wrong map of India. Along with Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari, the FIR names News Partnerships Head Amrita Tripathi as accused who have been booked under Indian Penal Code Section 505 (2) (public mischief). Charges under IT Act Section 74 (publication for fraudulent purpose) have also been invoked in the case.

The Delhi Police case has been registered under relevant provisions of the IPC, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the IT Act.

This comes days after the NCPCR, the country’s apex child rights body, asked Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Cell) Anyesh Roy to explain why no action had been taken against Twitter as per its letter to the Delhi Police dated May 29.

Delhi Police Public Relations Officer Chinmoy Biswal said, “Acting on a complaint received from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) regarding the availability of child sexual abuse and child pornographic material on Twitter in the form of various accounts and links, an FIR under relevant sections of IPC, IT Act and POCSO Act has been registered by the Cyber Crime Unit, and investigation has been taken up.”

After conducting an inquiry and finding child sexual abuse material on the microblogging site, NCPCR directed Delhi Police to book Twitter India under section 11/15/19 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, section 199/292 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and any other relevant sections of IT Act and IPC on May 29.

The MP Government has also decided to initiate legal action against Twitter for putting up a distorted map of India and other such activities.  “Something or other has been going on continuously against the country for a long time. Sometimes unrestrained words are spoken against Bharat Mata and sometimes a wrong map of the country is displayed on Twitter. These issues cannot be taken lightly. The governments at the Centre and the state have taken it seriously,” Mishra said in a statement posted on Twitter. In another tweet, Mishra said he has directed the state’s Director General of Police (DGP) Vivek Johri to investigate the matter and take legal action in this direction.

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