Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi urges IT Minister to curb anti-women content, channels on social media

Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi has in a letter to Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw urged for immediate action on a YouTube channel for live broadcasting auctioning of women.

"I wrote a letter to the IT minister about this on July 30. There are many such applications, YouTube channels where there is a discussion about women's particular religion takes place. Culprits use their private photos and talk about their physical attributes. There was a talk of auctioning women. I would like to say that this is a criminal act and women cannot be put down for speaking up in the public sphere," said Chaturvedi while interacting with reporters yesterday.

"If strict action is not taken on this, then in the coming time such applications will be used against women," she said and demanded immediate action from the IT Minister.

"When it comes to promoting women in Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaigns or in Tokyo Olympics, the Centre never shies away. But, when it comes to speaking up for the rights of women, the Centre remains silent. Nevertheless, I hope that the IT Minister will take action in this matter as soon as possible," she added.

Yesterday, Priyanka tweeted, "Met Hon. IT Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw ji in the parliament today and he assured me that action would be taken against such apps and app creators that demean women and attempt to silence them on social media with such attempts. Will keep following up on the #SulliDeals issue."

Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Friday wrote to Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw concerning the safety of women in cyberspace and sought strict action against apps and platforms which degrade women.

"A few months back, a YouTube channel 'Liberal Doge' ran a live 'auction' of women belonging to a particular community. People were bidding and rating women based on their physical appearance and wrote degrading comments. More recently, pictures of several women have been uploaded without their knowledge or consent on an app that had posted pictures of several women from various professions, including journalists, sourced from their social media websites. The women targeted on the app faced threats, embarrassment, and harassment after their pictures bad been put up without consent. The purpose of the app was to degrade and humiliate women belonging to a particular community," wrote the Shiv Sena MP.

Chaturvedi in the letter said that this "horrifying incident" has left the women scarred and troubled. "Some of the women have since then deleted their social media accounts and many others said they were afraid of further harassment. The misuse of social and digital media to harass and attack the dignity of a woman is disheartening", she said.

"In a country where women are already struggling with gender bias, these incidents yet again lay bare the protection and safety of women, especially in cyberspace. Though Delhi and Noida Police have registered cases, no real progress has been made so far. The lack of stringent and efficient preventive laws and punishments for such cases only motivates the perpetrators", Chaturvedi pointed out.

The Shiv Sena leader alleged in the letter that hardly any movement with regards to this case has been taken as of now despite the seriousness of it. She urged the IT Minister to take urgent and strict actions to deal with such nuisance, so as to protect the dignity of women of the society as any responsible government should.

(ANI)

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