Lucknow: Activist Sunitha Krishnan who is working tirelessly to expose the horrifying sale of gang-rape videos since a year and urged Supreme Court into ordering a CBI probe into gang-rape videos being shared on social media. Now she is highlighting the horrifying sale of such videos across Uttar Pradesh before the country’s top court.
Bulandshahar, gang-rape videos are being sold in hundreds and thousands, every day in shops across UP.
The Home Ministry has assured the Supreme Court last August that an agency with pan-India jurisdiction would be formed to take action against such clips and the criminals.
The video clips, which are between 30 seconds and five minutes long, are priced between Rs 50 and Rs 150.
The video clearly states that this is not the offender’s first rape. One performs the heinous act, others pin the woman down and cover her mouth, while another films the attack. They also blackmail the victims by showing the video from going to the police
“In another video, spanning 8.5 minutes, there is a gang-rape of a girl by five culprits who are shown smiling, cracking jokes, recording the act and taking photos while they go about sexually assaulting the victim”, says Krishnan.
She told Mail Today that.“The situation in UP is alarming. If the centre and state polices had kept their word, such shooting of gang-rape footage and their sale would not have been possible.”
She added.“It is very essential for prompt action. As of now, what is happening is that when I, sitting in Hyderabad, get a video from Kashmir or Haryana, the local police say they do not have the jurisdiction to act upon it.”
“An agency which has jurisdiction over the entire country can immediately lodge an FIR, investigate and take action against the offenders,” she said.
“I appreciated the apex court earlier taking cognisance of my letter and the videos I sent and directing a CBI probe. But the court also has to put in place a permanent mechanism to deal with such situations. The problem is that cyber cell does not take suo motu (on its own) notice of the videos,” she says.