New Delhi, August 11, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday disposed of a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a time-bound and legally or judicially supervised mechanism to address serious forms of online harm, including rape and death threats, doxxing and non-consensual intimate or deepfake content.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana directed the Union government to examine the issues raised by the petitioner in a representation and take appropriate remedial measures.
During the hearing, advocate Narendra Kumar Goswami highlighted the urgency of addressing online threats, asking whether a woman’s home address accompanied by a rape threat posted online at 9 p.m. would be allowed to remain accessible.
The Bench observed that the petitioner had highlighted various forms and dimensions of cybercrime effectively, but noted that questions relating to detection and preventive mechanisms involved domain expertise.
Goswami informed the court that he had already submitted a representation to the Union Ministries of Electronics and Information Technology, Home Affairs, and Law and Justice.
In its order, the Bench noted that the PIL sought an effective supervisory mechanism to address grave unlawful digital harms, including threats of physical violence, disclosure of private information such as children’s school locations, non-consensual intimate content and harmful digital impersonation.
The court recorded that the petitioner had raised these concerns in a representation dated June 22, 2026, submitted to the concerned Union ministries.
“At this stage, we direct respondent authorities, along with all other stakeholders, to look into the issues raised in the petitioner’s representation and take such remedial measures as may be required,” the Bench said while disposing of the petition.
The PIL argued that harmful digital content can spread within minutes, while conventional legal remedies often take considerably longer, creating a gap between the speed at which online harm occurs and the response of the legal system.
The petitioner sought an emergency mechanism for cases involving specific threats of physical or sexual violence and death, doxxing, unauthorised disclosure of residential or location details, exposure of private information concerning minors, non-consensual intimate or AI-generated content, and harmful deepfakes or digitally manipulated impersonation.
The petition clarified that the proposed mechanism was not intended to introduce censorship or blanket takedowns. Instead, it sought URL-specific and content-specific action that would be reasoned, time-bound and subject to legal or judicial supervision and review.
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