Social media won't be allowed to abuse election process: Prasad
New Delhi, Aug 26 : Social media platforms will never be allowed to abuse India's election process and stringent measures backed by laws on data protection and individual privacy have been put in place, Information Technology (IT) Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said.
Addressing the plenary of the G-20 Digital Economy Ministerial meeting in Salata, Argentina, on August 23-24, Prasad also noted that India had taken serious note of the reported data misuse by social media platforms and said the purity of the democratic process should never be compromised, an IT Ministry statement said here on Sunday.
The Minister's remarks come after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) launched a preliminary enquiry against the British political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica for alleged illegal harvesting of personal data of Indians from Facebook.
The UK consultancy has also been accused of allegedly interfering in the 2016 US Presidential elections.
"Minister Prasad stressed that India had taken a serious note of reported misuse of social media platform data. Such platforms will never be allowed to abuse our election process for extraneous means," the statement said.
He also said that the purity of the democratic process should never be compromised and that India will take all required steps to deter and punish those who seek to vitiate this process.
Noting that while privacy cannot prohibit innovation nor become a shield "for the corrupt or terrorists", Prasad said that data must be anonymous, objective and taken with consent for it to continue being an effective tool to improve business.
In this connection, Department of Telecommunications Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said here earlier this week that the government has no intention of imposing a blanket ban on messaging applications and is looking for other "technical solutions" to curb instances of fake news and misuse of these apps.
On Tuesday, Prasad met Whatsapp CEO Chris Daniels here and asked the visiting corporate to comply with Indian laws and take "suitable" steps to prevent the misuse of the instant messaging platform.
At the G-20 event, Prasad also proposed that a part of the revenue generated by digital platforms needs to be reinvested in the host markets.
According to the statement, India's digital infrastructure consists of 1.21 billion mobile phones, including 450 million smartphones, nearly 500 million internet subscribers and increasing broadband availability.
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Kerala: Court imposes 41-year jail term on man for sexual assault of minor
Kozhikode (Kerala) (PTI): A Kerala court on Wednesday sentenced a man to 41 years in prison for sexually assaulting a minor boy near Valayam in 2021.
Nadapuram Fast Track Special Court judge K Naushad Ali sentenced 64-year-old Panchara Musa, also known as Ganapathiyat Musa, under various provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), according to special public prosecutor Manoj Aroor.
As the sentences are to run concurrently, the convict will have to serve the highest term of 20 years’ imprisonment, SPP Aroor said. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 52,000 on Musa.
The incident took place in August 2021 when the accused allegedly took the 14-year-old boy to a bus stop in Valayam town and sexually assaulted him, the prosecutor said. The accused also gave Rs 50 to the boy, he added.
Following the incident, the boy and his father lodged a complaint at the Valayam police station.
A case under various provisions of the POCSO Act and the IPC was registered, and the accused was subsequently arrested, the SPP said.
The prosecution examined 16 witnesses and submitted 16 documents to substantiate its case against the accused, he added.
