Lok Sabha Question No. 298 (STARRED), answered on 2022-08-05
Subject: Indecent Representation of Women
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: P.R. Natarajan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 298*

TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.08.2022

## INDECENT REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN

## 298*.   SHRI NATARAJAN P.R.:

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware that the indecent representation or reference of women are growing year by year and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the number of cases registered/offenders booked under Indecent Representation  of  Women  Act,  1986  during  each  of  the  last  four  years  and current year, category-wise;
- (c) the  details  of  the  offenders  penalized  in  this  regard  during  the  said  period, State/UT-wise and offence-wise;
- (d) whether  the  Government  has  felt  any  need  to  amend  the  said  Act  further  to increase the penal action; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *298 FOR  ANSWER  ON  05.08.2022 ASKED  BY  SHRI  NATARAJAN  P.R.  REGARDING 'INDECENT REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN'

(a) to (e) : The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) publishes the data on crime against women which is available for the year upto 2020. The data published by NCRB pertaining to 'the  Indecent  Representation  of  Women  (Prohibition)  Act,  1986'  (IRWA)  shows  a  declining trend.  The number of cases registered under IRWA in the year 2019 were 24, as against 12 in the  year  2020.  State/  UT-wise  cases  registered  and  persons  convicted  under  'the  Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986' during 2017-2020 are at Annexure .  Category-wise & offence-wise details are not maintained.

Further,  Police'  and  'Public  Order'  are  State  subjects  under  the  Seventh  Schedule  to  the Constitution  of  India  and  the  responsibility  for  the  prevention,  detection,  investigation  and prosecution  of  crimes  including  cyber  crimes  through  their  Law  Enforcement  Agencies (LEAs).    However,  the  central  Government  has  also  taken  various  legislative  and  schematic measures in this direction and also for supplementing the efforts of States/ UTs.

Besides,  'the  Indecent  Representation  of  Women  (Prohibition)  Act,  1986',  the  indecent representation of women, both in print and electronic media, is regulated under various other Acts  and  Rules/  guidelines,  such  as  'the  Indian  Penal  Code,  1860',  'the  Cinematograph  Act, 1952' and 'the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 1983' and the guidelines issued thereunder to  check  obscenity  in  films,  'the  Press  Council  Act,  1978',  'the  Programme  and  Advertising Code'  prescribed  under  'the  Cable  Television  Network  Rules,  1994';  the  Code  for  Self Regulation in Advertising of the Advertising Standards Council of India; the Content Certification Code  by  Broadcasting  Content  Complaints  Council;  the  Self-Regulation  Guidelines  by  News Broadcasters Association (NBA). The enactment of 'the Information Technology Act, 2000' also covers  indecent  representation  of  women  in  electronic  media  including  digital/  online  media (films and audio-visual programmes made available by online content providers and news and current affairs content on online platforms).

In order to provide and equipped ecosystem for tackling all types of cyber crimes in the country, in  a  coordinated  and  comprehensive  manner,  the  Government  has  set  up  the  'Indian  Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). MHA has implemented a  scheme  namely  'Cyber  Crime  Prevention  against  Women  and  Children  (CCPWC)'  under which  an  online  Cyber  Crime  reporting  portal  (www.cybercrime.gov.in)  has  been  set  up  to enable  public  to  report  complaints  pertaining  to  Child  Pornography/  Child  Sexual  Abuse Material, rape/ gang rape imageries or sexually explicit content. The portal facilitates the State/ UTs to view complaints of Cyber Crime online and take appropriate action.

Recently, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 notified under the IT Act, specifies that the intermediaries shall inform the users of computer resource not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, update or share any information that is, inter alia, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, harms minor in any way; or violates any law for the time being in force; etc.

In  addition,  to  strengthen  the  mechanism  to  deal  with  cyber  crimes  in  a  comprehensive  and coordinated manner, the Central Government has taken steps for spreading awareness about cyber  crimes;  issuance  of  alerts/advisories;  capacity  building/  training  of  law  enforcement personnel/ prosecutors/ judicial officers; improving cyber forensic facilities; etc.

These  steps  help  to  prevent  such  cases  and  speed  up  investigation  and  have  collectively created a robust system targeted at ensuring a safe cyberspace for women including preventing indecent  representation  of  women  through  any  media  platform.  Therefore,  in  order  to  avoid multiplicity and ensure homogenous smooth functioning of the existing ecosystem, there is no proposal under consideration for amendment in IRWA.

ANNEXURE ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) to (e) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED  QUESTION  NO.*298  FOR  ANSWER  ON  05.08.2022  ASKED  BY  SHRI NATARAJAN P.R. REGARDING 'INDECENT REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN'

State/ UT-wise Cases Registered (CR) and  Persons Convicted (PCV) under The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 during the years 20172020

| SL   | State/UT                    | 2017   | 2017   | 2018   | 2018   | 2019   | 2019   | 2020   | 2020   |
|------|-----------------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| SL   | State/UT                    | CR     | PCV    | CR     | PCV    | CR     | PCV    | CR     | PCV    |
| 1    | Andhra Pradesh              | 2      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 2    | Arunachal Pradesh           | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 3    | Assam                       | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 4    | Bihar                       | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 5    | Chhattisgarh                | 0      | 0      | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 6    | Goa                         | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 7    | Gujarat                     | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 2      | 0      |
| 8    | Haryana                     | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 9    | Himachal Pradesh            | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 10   | Jharkhand                   | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 11   | Karnataka                   | 1      | 0      | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 1      | 0      |
| 12   | Kerala                      | 4      | 1      | 1      | 2      | 7      | 0      | 3      | 12     |
| 13   | Madhya Pradesh              | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 14   | Maharashtra                 | 0      | 0      | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 15   | Manipur                     | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 16   | Meghalaya                   | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 17   | Mizoram                     | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 18   | Nagaland                    | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 19   | Odisha                      | 2      | 0      | 3      | 0      | 6      | 0      | 3      | 0      |
| 20   | Punjab                      | 4      | 0      | 1      | 0      | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 21   | Rajasthan                   | 6      | 12     | 7      | 7      | 5      | 6      | 0      | 3      |
| 22   | Sikkim                      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 23   | Tamil Nadu                  | 2      | 0      | 4      | 0      | 2      | 0      | 3      | 0      |
| 24   | Telangana                   | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 25   | Tripura                     | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 26   | Uttar Pradesh               | 0      | 0      | 3      | 0      | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 27   | Uttarakhand                 | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 28   | West Bengal                 | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
|      | TOTAL STATE(S)              | 24     | 13     | 22     | 9      | 24     | 6      | 12     | 15     |
| 29   | A&N Islands                 | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 30   | Chandigarh                  | 0      | 0      | 0      | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 31   | D&N Haveli and Daman & Diu+ | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 32   | Delhi                       | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 1      | 0      | 0      |
| 33   | Jammu & Kashmir*            | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 34   | Ladakh                      |        |        |        |        |        |        | 0      | 0      |
| 35   | Lakshadweep                 | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 36   | Puducherry                  | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
|      | TOTAL UT(S)                 | 1      | 0      | 0      | 1      | 0      | 1      | 0      | 0      |
|      | TOTAL (ALL INDIA)           | 25     | 13     | 22     | 10     | 24     | 7      | 12     | 15     |

+Combined data of erstwhile UT of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and UT of Daman & Diu *Including Ladakh for the year upto 2019

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