The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology MeitY was asked about prostitution listings on classifieds website Locanto, a Craigslist-like classifieds site. Prostitution listings on the site appear with a simple Google search, and Indian law enforcement has struggled to keep up with the deluge of prostitution listings on the site.
For instance, here are the arrests made in a single city over the last couple of months:. Why it matters? What happens when an intermediary based abroad is used to commit crimes that are not at a central level?
As more and more Indians get online, the legislative and technological challenges around this subject will only grow. MediaNama has reached out to Locanto for a statement and will update this report if they respond. A couple weeks ago, we discussed in a report how it was largely illegal for foreign betting and gambling websites to offer their services in India; in spite of this, the government is helpless to stop these services, as gambling is a state subject. There have been some complaints received by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology MeitY about the misuse of such sites for online prostitution.
Government has taken steps to curb such online activities. As per the Information Technology Act, ,publishing or transmitting of obscene and pornographic material in electronic form is a cyber crime. Also, Rule 3 2 of these Rules provides that on a complaint by an individual, the intermediary shall within 24 hours remove any content which prima facie exposes the private area of such individual, shows such individual in full or partial nudity or shows or depicts such individual in any sexual act or conduct, or is in the nature of impersonation in an electronic form, including artificially morphed images of such individual.
Complainants must lodge complaints at cybercrime portal www. Action will be taken by the law enforcement agencies as per the provisions of the IT Act. Sign up for our Daily Newsletter to receive regular updates Stay informed about MediaNama events Have something to tell us? Copy Content copied! Edit before use. Read our Terms of use. Load More.
