In a rather bizarre development that spells more trouble for Meta in India, the West Bengal Police have named Instagram as a co-accused in a case that involves a POCSO charge.
The police in West Bengal have made Meta-owned Instagram a co-accused for purportedly hosting indecent content that involves children, as per a report by The Economic Times.
The cyber police station of Dakshin Dinajpur district filed a First Information Report (FIR) on April 11, naming Instagram as a co-accused under Section 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, as well as Section 67(B) of the Information Technology (IT) Act of 2000.
The FIR was initiated following a complaint lodged by the victim under the guidance of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, as confirmed by the agency’s chairperson, Priyank Kanoongo.
Section 12 of the POCSO Act delineates the punishment for sexual harassment of a child, stipulating imprisonment of up to three years along with a fine for the perpetrator.
Notably, this offense is non-bailable, per the rulings of various high courts in the country.
Under Section 67(B) of the IT Act, the dissemination of material portraying children in sexually explicit acts through electronic means is punishable.
The section outlines penalties of up to five years imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh for first-time offenders, escalating to seven years imprisonment and a similar fine for subsequent violations.
In response to queries from ET, a spokesperson for Instagram stated their commitment to taking action against content that breaches their Community Guidelines or local laws.
This legal action comes in the wake of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issuing notices to various social media platforms last October, urging them to eliminate child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from their platforms.
The notices were prompted by concerns raised about the presence of pornographic material and CSAM on several social media platforms, which had been brought to the attention of senior ministry officials previously.
