Lok Sabha Question No. 2800 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-15
Subject: Digital Security of Citizens
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Abdul Khaleque

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION 2800

TO BE ANSWERED ON 15.12.2021

## DIGITAL SECURITY  OF  CITIZENS

## 2800.   SHRI ABDUL KHALEQUE:

Will the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  any  proposal  to  ensure  digital  security  of  citizens  especially women and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the details of the orders which have been given to social media platforms to withdraw content that hinders the digital security of citizens;
- (c) whether the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Women and Child Development have consulted together on the issues of social media platforms; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a): The Government is committed to Open, Safe &  Trusted and Accountable internet. All online intermediaries providing services in India shall respect the Constitutional rights of all Indian online specially under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

Government has taken several steps for digital security of people that inter alia , include:

- (i) The Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 has provisions to deal with prevalent cyber crimes including  the  ones  related  to  women.    Sections  66E,  67  and  67A  of  the  Act  provide  for  the punishment  and  fine  for violation of bodily privacy and  publishing or transmitting of obscene/sexually-explicit material in electronic form. Section 67B of the Act specifically provides stringent  punishment  for  publishing,  browsing  or  transmitting  child  pornography  in  electronic form.  Further,  sections  354C  and  354D  of  Indian  Penal  Code  provide  punishment  for  cyber bullying and cyber stalking.
- (ii)  The  recently  notified  Information  Technology (Intermediary  Guidelines and  Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 notified under the IT Act particularly deal with citizen safety especially for women and children. The IT Rules require that the intermediaries shall observe due diligence

while discharging their duties and shall inform their users not to host, display, upload, modify, publish,  transmit,  update  or  share  any  information  that  is  harmful,  defamatory,  obscene  and invasive of another's privacy or otherwise unlawful in any manner whatsoever.  The intermediary shall also adopt grievance redressal mechanism as prescribed in the Rules. Also, as per provisions of rule 3(2)(b) of these Rules, the intermediary shall remove any such objectionable content against women within twenty-four hours from the receipt of complaint made by the individual impacted person or any person on his behalf.

Intermediaries are also required to remove any unlawful content relatable to Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India or violative of any law for the time being in force as and when brought to their knowledge either through a court order or through a notice by appropriate government or its agency.

- (iv)  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  (MHA)  operates  a  National  Cyber  Crime  Reporting  Portal, www.cybercrime.gov.in to enable citizens to report complaints pertaining to all types of cyber crimes with special focus on cyber crimes against women and children.
- (v) MeitY through a programme, namely, Information Security Education & Awareness (ISEA), has been creating awareness among users highlighting the importance of following the ethics while using  Internet  and  advising  them  not  to  share  rumours/fake  news.  A  dedicated  website  for information  security  awareness  (https://www.infosecawareness.in)  provides  relevant  awareness material.
- (vi) Besides conducting training and awareness workshop including those exclusively for women, ISEA has published an exclusive handbook namely 'Information Security Awareness handbook for Women', 'Cyber Security tips for Women' and 'Online Safety tips for Women @ Home during COVID 19'. The awareness content designed/developed exclusively for women have been made available for download on the website https://www.infosecawareness.in/women.
- (b):  The Appropriate Governments and their agencies in States and in Centre take legal action against the cyber-crime offenders as per the provisions of applicable laws and also issue notices to intermediaries  including  social  media  platforms  to  remove  content  violative  of  any  law.  This Ministry does not maintain such data.
- (c)  and  (d):  This  Ministry  regularly  interacts  with  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  and  Ministry  of Women and Child Development on many issues including matters related to unlawful or content having misinformation on the social media platforms.

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