Madras High Court directs MeitY to delete non-consensual private content of a woman lawyer within 48 hours. Justice Venkatesh turns emotional, demands swift action to protect women’s dignity.
Chennai: The Madras High Court, on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, passed a crucial order directing the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to take strong and urgent steps to remove and block private photos and videos of a woman lawyer.
These were recorded by her male partner without her consent and are being widely circulated on the internet, including social media and private messaging apps.
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Justice N. Anand Venkatesh, who heard the case, ordered MeitY to act within 48 hours and ensure that all such non-consensual content is taken down.
The judge noted that the woman advocate was going through intense mental trauma because her private moments were being constantly uploaded, re-shared, and transmitted not just on porn websites, but also through platforms like WhatsApp and social media pages.
He instructed MeitY to submit a compliance report by July 14, 2025. The case will remain open so that the court can give further instructions to protect women in the future from going through such suffering.
In a strong move, Justice Venkatesh also added the Director General of Police (DGP)/Head of the Police Force as a party in the case, even though he was not originally named in the woman’s petition. This was done to ensure better coordination between the State and Centre.
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The woman advocate, in her petition, explained that she had fallen in love with a man during her college years. Trusting him, she spent private moments with him after he promised to marry her. However, she had no idea that he had secretly recorded their intimate time on his mobile phone.
She only came to know about it when her private images and videos went viral. Deeply shocked and betrayed, she filed a police complaint on April 1 against the man and also the administrator of a WhatsApp group where the videos were reportedly circulated.
Later, she also sent a formal representation to MeitY on June 18, requesting them to direct all digital platforms, websites, pornographic sites, and telecom service providers to immediately remove the content.
She urged them to use technologies like hash matching, artificial intelligence-based content recognition, PhotoDNA, and Google’s content safety hash checkers for quick and effective action.
However, according to senior lawyer Abudu Kumar Rajarathinam, MeitY did not take any steps based on the woman’s plea.
This forced her to approach the High Court for urgent relief. The senior advocate also referred to a similar case in which Justice Subramonium Prasad of the Delhi High Court had passed detailed orders on April 26, 2023.
But despite these past directions, MeitY is still slow to act when young women suffer such public humiliation.
He told the court:
“We have created Frankenstein-like monsters called the internet and social media without first putting in place a mechanism to prevent our women from facing such trauma.”
He also requested the Court to instruct the Tamil Nadu police to coordinate with MeitY so that removal of such objectionable content can happen immediately once a criminal complaint is registered.
During the hearing, Justice Venkatesh became emotional. His voice choked and his eyes filled with tears as he reflected on the woman’s suffering.
He told the senior counsel:
“I was just thinking, what if this woman lawyer had been my daughter.”
He then said he wanted to meet the woman in his chamber to give her strength and support.
He added:
“Now, I have to prepare myself and make sure I do not break down during the interaction with her.”
Justice Venkatesh also acknowledged that the woman was able to bring this issue before the court because she was part of the legal profession.
He asked,
“Fortunately, she is in this profession and she has the help of all of us here. What happens to some silent sufferers who cannot gather the courage to fight?”
He strongly said that it is the responsibility of the State and the Constitutional Courts to protect the fundamental right to dignity of every citizen.
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