SC directs search engines to block sex determination advertisements

Supreme Court (SC) has directed search engines like Google India, Yahoo and Micrsoft’s Bing to block advertisements on sex determination and strictly comply with the laws.
This ruling was given by SC bench comprising of Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C. Pant on public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Dr. Sabu Mathew George in 2008.
PIL had highlighted that the use of Internet and popular search engines to promote sex determination technologies violates laws.
SC directions to search engines

• Withdraw advertisements on sex determination as it violates Section 22 of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act,1994.
• Search engines must upload this order on their policy page and also the page containing terms and conditions of service to serve as a warning for persons intending to put up such advertisements.

Background

• Though sex determination is illegal India, it is still practiced which has a severe effects on male-female ratio.
• As per UN data, India’s child sex ratio has dropped from 964 in 1971 to a low of 918 in 2011.
• While between 2001 and 2011, child sex ratio has declined in more than two-thirds of the districts in the country  and this problem is worse in urban areas.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2015