Citing “ethical concerns, the Ministry of Railways, on Friday, February 21, issued a notice to X (formerly Twitter) to take down 285 social media links containing videos depicting the casualties from the February 15 stampede at the New Delhi railway station.
The move comes after the Indian Railways, on December 24 last year, was empowered to issue takedown notices directly to the social media platforms through the executive director of information and publicity of the Railway board. Previously such requests had to be routed through the blocking committee of the IT ministry under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act stated the Hindustan Times reported.
As per Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, the railway ministry is empowered to issue takedown notices to intermediaries (such as social media platforms) which are usually under a “safe harbour”, meaning they are not liable for the third-party content on their platforms. However, the safe harbour protection of the intermediary does not apply if the unlawful content is brought to their notice by the government or its agency.
The power given to the railway ministry aims to address multiple concerns like misinformation regarding Indian Railways, and circulation of videos promoting dangerous stunts on railway tracks, stated the Hindustan Times.
Stampede visuals ‘disturbing’, explains ministry
On February 17, the Indian Railways directed X to remove all tweets and posts related to the Delhi railway station stampede in 36 hours. According to the ministry, the content contains “sensitive or disturbing media depicting deceased individuals” and goes against the content policy of X itself.
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However, as per X’s policy, users are entitled to “dignity and privacy in death” but also calls for “maintenance of a robust public record, especially for significant historical or newsworthy events.”
Delhi HC pulls up Indian Railways
On February 19, the Delhi High Court pulled up the Indian Railways for selling more tickets than the number of people accommodated in the train coaches.
The High Court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) that called for the enforcement of Section 147 of the Railways Act which limits the number of passengers per coach and penalises those who flout the rule.
“Show what steps you will take to implement existing laws that limit the number of passengers in coaches and penalise persons entering without authority,…If you positively implement a simple thing… in letter and spirit… this situation (the stampede at the Delhi railway station) could have been avoided,” Chief Justice DK Upadhyay said.
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