Alok Singh
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) presented a report before the Delhi High Court before a division bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh and Justice Amit Sharma perused the report while hearing a Habeas Corpus petition.
The report emphasised the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) as a nodal agency for addressing cybercrime. It highlighted the challenges faced by law enforcement agencies, including delays in data requests, procedural inefficiencies, and lack of compliance from IT intermediaries.
The MHA introduced the ‘SAHYOG Portal’, which I4C developed to streamline collaboration among Central/State agencies and IT intermediaries. Phase 1 focuses on removing unlawful content, and Phase 2 will handle lawful data requests. Nine major IT intermediaries (e.g., Google, YouTube, Telegram) are onboarded, with the expansion plans.
In its 11th December 2024 order, the Court directed meetings between I4C officials and platforms like LinkedIn and X (Twitter) to resolve technical and operational issues. Additionally, the Court instructed that if any issues remain unresolved, the platforms must file affidavits detailing the outstanding concerns by the next hearing date.
Previously, the Bench instructed platforms, including Google, Meta, and WhatsApp, to respond to queries raised by the Delhi Police, including their Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and data retention timelines.
The matter will be heard on January 30, 2025.
Case Title: Shabana v. Government of NCT of Delhi and Others
Case Number: W.P.(CRL) 1563/2024
Bench: Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Amit Sharma