News Analysis India

Tag: IT Act

  • Uttar Pradesh: 20 people booked for making video of 12-year-old blood-soaked rape victim 

    By PTI

    KANNAUJ: Police on Saturday registered a case against 20 unknown people for recording videos on their mobile phones instead of helping a 12-year-old girl who was found soaked in blood and writhing in pain at a government guest house here.

    Gursahaiganj SHO Rajkumar Singh said due to the video, the identity of the minor girl became public, as a result, a case has been registered under the POCSO Act and IT Act.

    According to police, when police outpost in-charge Manoj Pandey reached the spot on October 23 and saw the blood-soaked girl, he asked people gathered there to stop making videos but they continued with it.

    In the video, a policeman is seen carrying the injured girl to an autorickshaw to take her to the hospital while bystanders keep recording videos on their mobile phones.

    Police said efforts are on to identify those who were making the video. The girl is currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Kanpur.

    She is opening her eyes but is not saying anything. Owing to serious injuries on her head, there are several stitches and injuries on her body as well.

    Superintendent of Police Kunwar Anupam Singh said he had spoken to the doctors and she will recover soon.

    Police are yet to arrest the accused, Ramji Verma, a resident of Farrukhabad, who had allegedly raped the girl.

    On a complaint by the girl’s uncle, a case has been registered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 376 (rape) and 307 (attempt to murder) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act.

    The girl had gone out to buy a piggy bank on Sunday but did not return home, prompting her family members to launch a search for her.

    In the CCTV footage of the guest house, the minor was seen talking to a youth, according to police.

    KANNAUJ: Police on Saturday registered a case against 20 unknown people for recording videos on their mobile phones instead of helping a 12-year-old girl who was found soaked in blood and writhing in pain at a government guest house here.

    Gursahaiganj SHO Rajkumar Singh said due to the video, the identity of the minor girl became public, as a result, a case has been registered under the POCSO Act and IT Act.

    According to police, when police outpost in-charge Manoj Pandey reached the spot on October 23 and saw the blood-soaked girl, he asked people gathered there to stop making videos but they continued with it.

    In the video, a policeman is seen carrying the injured girl to an autorickshaw to take her to the hospital while bystanders keep recording videos on their mobile phones.

    Police said efforts are on to identify those who were making the video. The girl is currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Kanpur.

    She is opening her eyes but is not saying anything. Owing to serious injuries on her head, there are several stitches and injuries on her body as well.

    Superintendent of Police Kunwar Anupam Singh said he had spoken to the doctors and she will recover soon.

    Police are yet to arrest the accused, Ramji Verma, a resident of Farrukhabad, who had allegedly raped the girl.

    On a complaint by the girl’s uncle, a case has been registered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 376 (rape) and 307 (attempt to murder) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act.

    The girl had gone out to buy a piggy bank on Sunday but did not return home, prompting her family members to launch a search for her.

    In the CCTV footage of the guest house, the minor was seen talking to a youth, according to police.

  • Elgar Parishad accused Rona Wilson seeks probe into alleged installation of malware on computer

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case accused Rona Wilson’s lawyer told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that an expert should be asked to probe if any malware had been installed on Wilson’s computer before it was seized by the NIA in 2018. Wilson has moved the high court seeking quashing of the charges against him.

    His petition has cited, among other grounds, a report of the US-based digital forensic firm Arsenal Consulting that incriminating evidence was planted on his computer through a malware before he was arrested.

    On Wednesday, his lawyer, senior counsel Indira Jaising told a bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar that to tamper with a person’s electronic device was an offense under the Information Technology (IT) Act.

    “It is my case that crimes under the IT Act have been committed against me….I have come with a positive case that my device was tampered with and an expert should be appointed to ascertain if my computer had malware when it was seized (by the National Investigation Agency). The expert can tell how the malware was planted,” she said.

    As per Arsenal Consulting, a hacker had had the control of Wilson’s computer, and a malware (software used for malicious purposes such as spying) was used to plant documents in it, including a letter that was cited by the NIA as evidence against Wilson and other accused in the case.

    Arsenal came out with more reports later, claiming that electronic devices of other accused, including Jesuit priest Stan Swamy who died in hospital last month, too had been tampered with. Shoma Sen, another accused in the case, too has filed a petition seeking quashing of charges on the same ground.

    Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, who appeared for the NIA, argued on Wednesday that the reports on which the petitioners were relying came from an organization called `American Bar Association’. “This association had no standing in India and it was not a statutory body. We are at the stage of framing of charges. All their contentions can be looked into at the stage of trial,” he said.

    Jaising had earlier told the HC that besides deciding on the issue of quashing the charges against Wilson and Sen, the court will also have to examine what could be considered a “legal method of search and seizure of electronic evidence”.

    The hearing will continue later this month.

  • States responsible for implementation of 2015 judgement scrapping Section 66A of IT Act: Centre to SC

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: As ‘police’ and ‘public order’ are state subjects under the Constitution, the primary responsibility for implementing the 2015 judgement which scrapped Section 66A of the IT Act lay with them and their law enforcement agencies, the Centre has told the Supreme Court.

    The Centre has stated this in an affidavit to the apex court in response to a plea of an NGO, ‘People’s Union for Civil Liberties’ (PUCL), alleging that the steps taken by the Central government for ensuring effective implementation of the verdict “far from adequate”.

    Under the scrapped Section a person posting offensive messages could be imprisoned for up to three years as also fined. In the affidavit filed before a bench headed by Justice RF Nariman, the Centre said that state law enforcement agencies are responsible for taking action against offenders related to cyber crime.

    “Police and public order order are State Subjects as per Constitution of India and prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of crimes, and capacity building of police personnel is primary responsibility of States,” the Centre said.

    “The law enforcement agencies take legal action as per provisions of law against the cyber crime offenders and accordingly the law enforcement agencies share equal responsibility to comply with the said judgement,” it added.

    The government also told the top court that it has directed the Chief Secretaries and Administrators of all states and UTs to direct all police stations not to register cases under Section 66A to ensure compliance with the top court’s judgement in the Shreya Singhal case.

    The Centre said it has also requested them for submission of reports to the IT ministry on the number of cases booked under Section 66A of the IT Act, and directing them to withdraw any prosecution invoking 66A.

    Responding to the Centre’s affidavit PUCL told the apex court that the steps taken by the Centre for ensuring effective implementation of the historic 2015 judgement, scrapping Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which has still been used for arresting persons for offensive social media posts, are “far from adequate”.

    The bench, which scrapped the controversial provision from statute book by its verdict in the Shreya Singhal case, had on July 5 expressed shock after PUCL filed an application alleging misuse of the scrapped provision by authorities across the nation.

    “Don’t you think this is amazing and shocking? Shreya Singhal judgement is of 2015. It’s really shocking. What is going on is terrible,” the bench, also comprising KM Joseph and BR Gava, had said while issuing notice to the Centre on the NGO’s plea.

    The NGO, in its rejoinder affidavit filed through National General Secretary V Suresh, dealt with the steps taken by the Centre to implement the verdict and gave a slew of suggestions for its effective implementation.

    “The steps taken by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY ) towards ensuring effective implementation of this Court’s Judgment in Shreya Singhal vs Union of India…are far from adequate,” the affidavit said.

    It has suggested that the authorities be asked to collect “the details of the cases registered by the Police/Law Enforcement Agencies under Section 66A of the IT Act since the pronouncement of the Judgment in Shreya Singhal by co-ordinating with the Chief Secretaries/DGPs of the States and Union Territories”.

    Where the case is at the stage of investigation, direct the DGP in states and the Administrators/ Lieutenant Governors in the cases of UTs to forthwith drop further investigation under Section 66A, it said.

    It has also sought a direction from all High Courts to all the District Courts and Magistrates that no cognisance of offence under the provision be taken. The NGO said the Centre be directed to issue an advisory to all police stations not to register cases under the repealed Section 66A.

    The top court was hearing a fresh application of PUCL saying, “That, shockingly, despite the order dated February 15, 2019 and steps taken towards compliance thereof, the Applicant discovered that Section 66A of the IT Act has continued to be in use not only within police stations but also in cases before trial courts across India.”

    It had sought replies from the Centre. Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, had said that on perusal of the IT Act it can be seen that section 66A features in it, but in the footnote it is written that the provision has been scrapped.

    On February 15, 2019, the top court had directed all state governments to sensitise their police personnel about its March 24, 2015 verdict which had scrapped Section 66A, so that people are not unnecessarily arrested under the struck down provision.

    It also asked all the high courts to send the copy of the verdict to all the trial court to avoid people being prosecuted under the scrapped provision which provided for jail term to people who posted offensive content online.

    Terming liberty of thought and expression “cardinal”, the top court had on March 24, 2015, scrapped the provision saying that “the public’s right to know is directly affected by Section 66A of the Information Technology Act”.

  • SC sends notice to states, UTs and HCs on people being charged under scrapped section 66A of IT Act

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to states, Union Territories and registrar general of all high courts on the plea of an NGO that people are still being booked under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act that was scrapped by an apex court verdict in 2015.

    A bench of Justices RF Nariman and BR Gavai said that since police is a state subject, it will be better that all the state governments and Union Territories are made party and “we can pass a comprehensive order so that the matter is settled for once and for all”.

    Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for NGO PUCL, said that there are two aspects in this matter, one is police and the other is judiciary where such cases are still being tried. The bench said that as far as the judiciary is concerned it can take care of that and will issue notice to all the high courts.

    The top court listed the matter for further hearing after four weeks. On July 5, the top court had said it is “amazing” and “shocking” that people are still being booked under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act that was scrapped by an apex court verdict in 2015.

    Under the scrapped section, a person posting offensive messages could be imprisoned for up to three years and also fined.

  • MP government authorises home secretary to issue notices to social media companies against unlawful content

    By PTI
    BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh government on Wednesday authorised its home secretary to issue notices to social media companies, if they are found carrying unlawful content, like promotion of terror activities and child pornography, an official said.

    Through a notice, the official will ask a social media company to immediately remove the unlawful content from its portal, he said.

    “The state’s home secretary has been authorised to issue a notice under the IT Act against online transmission of unlawful posts on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others for their immediate removal,” additional chief secretary (ACS) home, Dr Rajesh Rajora, said.

    This authority was given by the home department in consultation with the law and science and technology departments of the state, he said.

    On receiving information about unlawful posts on social media platforms, the home secretary will issue notices in designated formats to the concerned companies for the immediate removal of such content, the official said.

    Objectionable content relates to child pornography, promotion of terror activities, selling illegal arms, inciting violence, crime related to untouchability, cyber crimes, encouragement to suicide, spreading rumours, wrong depiction of India’s map, child marriage, financial crimes, cruelty against animals, misleading information about medicines and selling of crackers online, among others, are the areas in which the home secretary is authorized to issue notices to the social media platforms, he said.

    The opposition Congress, however, slammed the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in the state over the order, terming it as “Tughlaqi” (unreasonable).

    Madhya Pradesh Congress media coordinator Narendra Saluja said, “As the state government is unable to bear the criticism against it on the social media, it has issued a Tughlaqi order, and it will decide whether whatever one has posted on social media is right or wrong.”

  • Twitter Inc failed to comply with country’s new IT Rules: Centre to Delhi HC

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Centre on Monday told the Delhi High Court that social media giant Twitter Inc has failed to comply with India’s new IT Rules, which is law of the land and is mandatorily required to be complied with.

    The Centre, in an affidavit filed in the high court, said any non-compliance amounts to breach of provisions of IT Rules, leading to US-based Twitter losing its immunity conferred under the IT Act. The affidavit has been filed in response to a plea by lawyer Amit Acharya, in which he claimed non-compliance of the Centre’s new IT Rules by the microblogging platform.

    The matter is scheduled to come up for hearing on Tuesday. The Centre’s affidavit, filed by N Samaya Balan, working as Scientist-E in the Cyber Law Group with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), said admittedly Twitter Inc is an intermediary within the meaning of provision of IT Act, 2000 and a Significant Social Media Intermediary (SSMI) under the IT Rules 2021.

    It said that in spite of the three months’ time granted to all SSMIs to comply with the IT Rules 2021 having expired on May 26, Twitter has “failed to fully comply” with the same. The IT Rules were notified on February 25.

    “I submit that the respondent no. 2 (Twitter Inc) had initially appointed the interim resident grievance officer (RGO) and the interim nodal contact person. Later the respondent no. 2 (Twitter Inc) informed the answering respondent (MEITY) that the said interim RGO and nodal officer have withdrawn/ resigned from their positions,” the affidavit said.

    “I submit that as per the details gleaned from the respondent No.2 website/mobile application, in the interim the grievances from India are being handled by personnel of respondent No. 2 situated in the United State of America which amounts to non-compliance with the IT Rules 2021,” it added.

    The affidavit, filed through Central government standing counsel Ripudaman Singh Bhardwaj, said that Twitter has failed to comply with the IT Rules, 2021 as on July 1 for the following reasons — chief compliance officer has not been appointed; the position of the RGO is vacant; the position of nodal contact person (even on an interim basis) is vacant, and the physical contact address, which was shown to be there on May 29, is not available again on Twitter website.

    “I submit that the IT Rules, 2021 are the law of the land and respondent no.2 is mandatorily required to comply with the same. Any non-compliance amounts to breach of the provisions of the IT Rules, 2021 thereby leading to respondent no.2 losing its immunity conferred under section 79(1) of the IT Act, 2000,” the officer said.

    The reply added that the immunity conferred on intermediaries under the provision of law is a conditional immunity subject to the intermediary satisfying the conditions under the Act and as provided in Rule 7, failure to observe the IT rules,2021 results in provisions of Section 79(1) of the IT Act, not being applicable to such an intermediary.

    The Centre said as Twitter qualifies as a SSMI, it is obligated to comply with the provisions of the IT Rules, 2021. On July 3, Twitter has also filed its affidavit stating that it was in the “final stages” of appointing an interim chief compliance officer and an interim resident grievance officer under the new IT Rules.

    In the meantime, grievances raised by Indian users are being looked into by a grievance officer, it has said. The microblogging site has also said it may fall within the definition of a “significant social media intermediary” under the IT Rules, 2021.

    The rules seek to regulate dissemination and publication of content in cyber space, including social media platforms, and were notified in February by the central government. Twitter said in “substantial compliance” with Rule 3(2) and Rule 4(1)(c) of the new IT Rules, it did appoint an interim resident grievance officer.

    However, even before steps could be taken to completely formalise the arrangement, the interim resident grievance officer withdrew his candidature on June 21, it said and denied that it has not complied with the intermediary guidelines.

    In his plea, filed through advocates Akash Vajpai and Manish Kumar, Acharya said that he came to know about the alleged non-compliance when he tried to lodge a complaint against a couple of tweets. Twitter has argued that the plea is not maintainable as a writ petition and that Acharya moved the court “prematurely” without waiting for the redressal of his grievance under the rules.

    It said Acharya had no locus standi to raise a complaint with respect to the tweets in question and added it has informed that the complaint has now been considered and disposed of.

  • Twitter seeks more time from government to comply with new IT rules

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Social media platform Twitter is learnt to have approached the government seeking more time to comply with the new IT rules. According to sources, the micro-blogging site has said that it intends to comply with the rules but needs more time due to the pandemic situation in India.

    “Twitter has written to Meity seeking more time to comply with the IT rules. It has expressed its intent to comply with the rules but has been unable to do so because of the pandemic,” a source told PTI. The response from Twitter comes after the government, last week, issued a strongly-worded final notice to the company regarding its non-compliance with the new rules.

    When contacted, a Twitter spokesperson said Twitter has been and remains deeply committed to India, and serving the vital public conversation taking place on the service. “We have assured the Government of India that Twitter is making every effort to comply with the new guidelines, and an overview on our progress has been duly shared. We will continue our constructive dialogue with the Indian Government,” the spokesperson said.

    ALSO READ| Sorry, there can be no Twitter Republic

    In its notice, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had said that Twitter’s refusal to comply with the rules demonstrated the micro-blogging site’s “lack of commitment and efforts towards providing a safe experience for the people of India on its platform”.

    “Despite being operational in India for more than a decade, it is beyond belief that Twitter Inc has doggedly refused to create mechanism that will enable the people of India to resolve their issues on the platform in a timely and transparent manner and through fair processes, by India based, clearly identified resources,” the ministry had said.

    The new IT rules for social media companies that came into effect last month mandate large platforms like Facebook and Twitter to undertake greater due diligence and make these digital platforms more accountable and responsible for the content hosted by them.

    The rules also require significant social media intermediaries — providing services primarily in the nature of messaging — to enable identification of the “first originator” of the information that undermines the sovereignty of India, the security of the state, or public order.

    Under the rules, significant social media intermediaries — those with over 50 lakh users — are required to appoint a grievance officer, a nodal officer and a chief compliance officer. These personnel have to be residents in India.

    Further, social media companies will have to take down flagged content within 36 hours, and remove within 24 hours content that is flagged for issues such as nudity and pornography.

    As per the ministry’s notice, though with effect from May 26, 2021, “consequences follow” given Twitter’s non-compliance with rules, “as a gesture of goodwill, Twitter Inc is hereby given one last notice to immediately comply with the rules, failing which the exemption from liability available… shall stand withdrawn and Twitter shall be liable for consequences as per the IT Act and other penal laws of India”.

    However, the notice did not mention about a specific date for the micro-blogging site to comply with the rules. Non-compliance with the rules would result in these platforms losing their intermediary status that provides them immunity from liabilities over any third-party data hosted by them.

    In other words, they could be liable for criminal action in case of complaints. According to the central government, the new rules are designed to prevent abuse and misuse of platforms, and offer users a robust forum for grievance redressal.

  • Government issues ‘one last notice’ to Twitter to comply with IT rules

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI:  The government on Saturday issued a notice to Twitter giving it one last chance to “immediately” comply with the new IT rules and warned that failure to adhere to the norms will lead to the platform losing exemption from liability under the IT Act.

    The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said that Twitter’s refusal to comply with the rules demonstrated the microblogging site’s “lack of commitment and efforts towards providing a safe experience for the people of India on its platform”.

    “Despite being operational in India for more than a decade, it is beyond belief that Twitter Inc has doggedly refused to create mechanism that will enable the people of India to resolve their issues on the platform in a timely and transparent manner and through fair processes, by India based, clearly identified resources,” the IT ministry said.

    The ministry said that though with effect from May 26, 2021, “consequences follow” given Twitter’s non-compliance with rules “however, as a gesture of goodwill, Twitter Inc is hereby given one last notice to immediately comply with the rules, failing which the exemption from liability available shall stand withdrawn and Twitter shall be liable for consequences as per the IT Act and other penal laws of India”.

    The notice, however, did not mention a specific date to comply with the rules.

    ALSO READ | Twitter’s allegation of ‘intimidation tactics’ by police totally baseless, says government

    The IT ministry in its notice observed that the world’s largest democracy had been among the first countries in the world, outside the parent country of Twitter Inc, to enthusiastically adopt the microblogging platform.

    “Users who are abused on the platform or are harassed or are subject to defamation or sexual abuse or become victims or a whole range of other abusive content must get a redressal mechanism that the same people of India have created through a due process of law,” the IT ministry asserted.

    The people of India, who use Twitter, “deserve and demand” a fair mechanism to address their grievances and resolve their disputes, it said.

    “Leave alone proactively creating such a mechanism, Twitter Inc is in the inglorious bracket of refusing to do so even when mandated by law,” the ministry said in its notice to the company.

    Twitter declined to comment to an e-mail sent by PTI on the issue.

    MeitY further confronted Twitter saying it was dismayed to note that the platform’s responses to its letters neither address the clarifications sought, nor indicate full compliance with the rules.

    “It is clear from your responses that till date Twitter has not informed about the details of the Chief Compliance Officer as required under the Rules,” it said.

    Also, resident grievance officer and the nodal contact person nominated by the company is not an employee of Twitter Inc in India as prescribed in the rules, the ministry said and added that office address of Twitter Inc as mentioned by the company “is that of a law firm in India, which is not as per the rules”.

    The ministry has made it clear to Twitter that such non-compliance will lead to “unintended consequences” including Twitter losing exemption from liability as intermediary under the IT Act.

    Twitter has an estimated 1.75 crore users in India, as per data cited by the government recently.

    The row over Twitter’s handling of certain messages had recently blown up into all-out war of words between the Centre and the social media platform.

    The government had earlier slammed Twitter’s remarks on alleged intimidation and threat to free speech and said that the microblogging platform had sought to undermine India’s legal system, through its actions and deliberate defiance.

    The IT ministry had termed the company’s stance as an attempt to dictate terms to the world’s largest democracy.

    Twitter had previously drawn flak after it marked several tweets by ruling BJP leaders on an alleged strategy document of Opposition to target the government over COVID as containing ‘manipulated media’, triggering a sharp rebuke from the government.

    The government had earlier asked Twitter to “stop beating around the bush” and comply with laws of the land.

    The microblogging site on Saturday removed and later restored the verified blue tick on the personal account of Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.

    Officials of the Vice President Secretariat said the personal Twitter handle of Naidu was inactive for a long time and the Twitter algorithm removed the blue badge.

    The new IT rules for social media companies that came into effect last month mandate large platforms like Facebook and Twitter to undertake greater due diligence and make these digital platforms more accountable and responsible for the content hosted by them.

    The rules also require significant social media intermediaries – providing services primarily in the nature of messaging – to enable identification of the “first originator” of the information that undermines the sovereignty of India, the security of the state, or public order.

    The new IT rules require significant social media intermediaries – those with other 50 lakh users – to appoint a grievance officer, nodal officer and a chief compliance officer.

    These personnel are required to be resident in India.

    Under the new rules, social media companies will have to take down flagged content within 36 hours, and remove within 24 hours content that is flagged for nudity, pornography etc.

    The Centre had said the new rules are designed to prevent abuse and misuse of platforms, and offer users a robust forum for grievance redressal.

    Non-compliance with the rules would result in these platforms losing their intermediary status that provides them immunity from liabilities over any third-party data hosted by them.

    In other words, they could be liable for criminal action in case of complaints.

  • Digital publishers say Javadekar meet constructive, others not that happy 

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  Information & Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar met representatives of Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) through video conferencing on Thursday. This comes after the government notified the  IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.  

    “DNPA made suggestions that preserve freedom of the press and emphasised that all its members are bound by, and follow, the regulations of Press Council of India and/or NBSA,” DNPA tweeted.

    It added that the meeting was constructive.

    Digital rights activist Nikhil Pahwa felt the statement hinted at ‘something problematic’, describing how new rules give the government ‘disproportionate power’.  

    Jency Jacob, managing editor at BOOM wrote, “Large print publishers and TV channels who also have websites have formed DNPA. None of the standalone websites who have formed @DigipubIndia were at this meeting.”

    Javadekar told DNPA about the Code of Ethics, like norms of journalistic conduct framed by Press Council of India and the Programme Code under the Cable Television Network Act.

    The minister said he held an interaction through video-conference with the representatives of the DNPA, including from India Today, Dainik Bhaskar, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, Times of India, ABP, Eenadu, Dainik Jagran and Lokmat, in the backdrop of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

    “In a follow-up to meeting with OTT platforms, held an interaction with Digital News Publishers Association today. Discussed the new rules for digital media. They welcomed the new rules and offered few suggestions which I have noted,” he said in a tweet.

    Addressing the participants virtually, Javadekar informed them that the new rules placed certain responsibilities on digital news publishers.

    “These include adherence to a code of ethics such as the norms of journalistic conduct framed by the Press Council of India and the Programme Code under the Cable Television Network Act.”

    “Further, to redress grievances of citizens, the rules have provided for a three-tier grievance redressal mechanism, of which the first and second tier would be of the digital news publishers and self-regulatory bodies constituted by them,” he was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the information and broadcasting ministry.

    According to the new rules, digital news publishers would also be required to furnish some basic information to the ministry in a simple form, which is being finalised, and periodically, they would be required to place the details of the grievance redressal measures undertaken by them in the public domain.

    Javadekar said the print media as well as television channels have a digital presence, where the content is almost the same as that on the traditional platforms.

    “However, there are contents which appear exclusively on the digital platform. This apart, there are several entities which are only on the digital platform. Accordingly, the rules seek to cover the news on digital media so as to bring them at par with the traditional media,” he said.

    The participants, while welcoming the new rules, stated that the audio-visual and the print media have been following the laid down norms of the Cable Television Network Act and the Press Council Act for a very long time, the statement said.

    They said for publishing the digital content, the publishers follow the existing norms of the traditional platforms and felt that it should be treated differently than those news publishers who are only on a digital platform.

    Javadekar thanked the participants for expressing their views and stated that the government will take note of the same and continue with this consultative process for the overall growth of the media industry, the statement said.

    (With PTI Inputs)