Equality, Dignity and Privacy are cornerstone principles to tackle online VAW

Authors: Anita Gurumurthy and Amrita Vasudevan

As technology becomes a real and unfragmentable part of social interaction, a global crisis is evident in the form of widespread normalisation of online violence against women (VAW).

It is vital that laws on online VAW draw from the foundational ideas that have informed interpretations of gender-based (in)justice, recognising the immersion of human society in digital experiences. Continue reading “Equality, Dignity and Privacy are cornerstone principles to tackle online VAW”

Costly ambiguities – a gender-based reading of the latest order of the Supreme Court in the Sabu Mathew George v. Union of India case

Amrita Vasudevan and Anita Gurumurthy

In April this year, the Supreme Court of India made an eagerly awaited ruling on Internet intermediary liability. This case dealt with Internet intermediary liability (search engines – Google Microsoft and Yahoo) in two situations: one; for causing advertisements, and two; for causing organic searches, on pre-natal determination or pre-conception selection of sex (PNDPS) to be displayed on their platforms. In India, publishing, distributing or communicating, or causing (emphasis added) to be published, distributed or communicated advertisements on PNDPS is a punishable offense under Section 22 of the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 (PCPNDT Act). Continue reading “Costly ambiguities – a gender-based reading of the latest order of the Supreme Court in the Sabu Mathew George v. Union of India case”