SC orders CBI probe into circulation of rape videos

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe to apprehend the culprits after taking suo motu cognisance of a letter pointing out circulation of two rape videos on WhatsApp.

A social justice bench consisting of Justices Madan B Lokur and U U Lalit issued notice to the Centre and Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Delhi and Telangana in the matter, after noting that some of the culprits in the videos talked with a Bengali accent.

After going through the contents of the letter, forwarded by Hyderabad-based NGO Prajwala, the court said: “It is clear that the issues raised are extremely serious, and something needs to be done.”

The NGO had sought several directions from the court, including setting up of toll-free number to report such crimes, preparing national-level registries to name and shame sex offenders, and special training for law enforcement agencies to deal with crimes in cyber space. The bench issued notice to Telangana after the NGO's counsel submitted that no significant progress had been made in a case pertaining to the attack on the car of one an office-bearer of the NGO who had launched the “Shame the Rapist” campaign on social networking sites.