Apex court tells CBI to probe ‘rape videos’

The NGO said one video, which is 4.5 minutes long, shows a man raping a girl, while another man is filming the heinous act. The other video, spanning 8.5 minutes, relates to gangrape of a girl by five culprits who have been shown smiling, cracking jokes, making a video and taking photos while they went about sexually assaulting the victim, it said.

The bench issued notices to the Centre and governments of Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Delhi, asking the states to look for the rapists in the video. The Ministries of Home and the Information Technology have also been asked to respond on creating a National Sex Offenders Registry to maintain databank on convicted sex offenders in the country.

Krishnan’s letter also urged the court to direct the Centre to evolve a mechanism to ensure that citizens report such crimes a “fearless” manner and their identity be protected. It further mooted the idea of maintaining a National Sex Offenders Register which should contain details of persons convicted for offences like eve-teasing, stalking, molestation and other sexual assaults.

The NGO has also suggested that the MHA should have a tie up with YouTube and WhatsApp to ensure that such offensive videos are not uploaded and culprits are punished as well. The bench will hear the matter next on March 13.