Ensure all ads on sex determination tests are off internet: SC to Centre

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the  Centre to hold a meeting with officials from search engines like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and others to ensure that all objectionable contents pertaining to sex determination tests were blocked from the  internet.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud directed the Centre to ensure that there is no violation of provisions of the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994.

In a separate suo motu matter initiated on a letter by NGO Prajwala in 2015, the apex court has directed the Centre to create a web portal by January 10 so that people can lodge complaints on issues pertaining to child sexual abuse, child pornography and rape or gang-rape videos.

On Wednesday, the court disposed of a PIL filed by Sabu Mathew George in 2008 about advertisements over sex determination tests on the  internet, allowing female foeticide, despite the  statutory ban.

Petitioner's counsel Sanjay Parikh contended that the nodal agency set up by the Centre last year has not been effective.

He blamed search engines for failing to take action to remove or block such contents.

Senior advocates A M Singhvi, K V Vishwanathan and others, representing the search engines, said that all offensive materials - relating to sex determination tests – were removed within 12 hours after it was pointed out.

There are millions and millions of websites and trillions of web pages. There are several permutations and combinations of keywords but still we promptly remove such materials on being indicated, they contended.