The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the government’s help after a UPA affidavit filed in 2010 said that blocking websites featuring pre-natal sex determination advertisements “may not be desirable” as they “provide good content for medical education”.
This affidavit, a Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra found, is the last word the Supreme Court has heard on the government’s efforts to combat the continued online presence of such advertisements and websites.
Pre-natal sex determination was made an offence two decades ago under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994.
The affidavit accepts that pre-natal sex determination is a crime in India. But it reasons that these advertisements are not just meant for Indian citizens but a global audience, some of whom belong to countries where it is not an offence.
“Also, most of these websites are hosted outside the country. Blocking such sites advertising pre-natal sex determination may not be feasible due to their hosting outside the country,” said the affidavit filed by the Cyber Laws Formulation and Enforcement Division of the Department of Information Technology.
Alarmed by the tone of “helplessness” in the four-year-old affidavit, the Bench asked for assistance from the current NDA government, saying an effort should be made to provide a legal solution that nothing contrary to the laws of this country are advertised or shown on websites.
