On 18th July, a writ petition filed in the public interest by Advocate Amita Sachdeva, Advocate Ajay Gulati and Mrs Sandeep Munjal was withdrawn from the Delhi High Court after the court asked the petitioners to seek relief through the established procedures under the IT Rules. The petition was filed against the derogatory videos being posted on YouTube of women and minor girls taking holy dip at Rivers in Haridwar, Rishikesh and other places.
The comments posted on these videos were not only derogatory in nature but raised serious questions on the integrity of platforms like YouTube that allow such videos to be posted without any consequences. Though the petition was withdrawn, the court emphasised on the importance of the subject matter acknowledged the serious nature of the content in question.
OpIndia accessed the PIL documents and did independent research on the subject to understand how deeply rooted the problem is. While some videos have been deleted, the channels that uploaded are still active and uploading similar videos almost daily.
Notably, all the petitioners are associated with Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, which is a grassroot-level non-profit organisation dedicated to upholding Dharma. The organisation has raised voice for Hindu causes and causes that have impact on the society in general on several occasions. In the petition, substantial evidence was provided with screenshots of the videos, links and screenshots of the derogatory comments uploaded by the vloggers on YouTube.
The unauthorised videography and photography on the sacred Ghats of the Ganga capturing women and minor girls without their consent raise serious questions about the security arrangements, implementation of the IT Rules and procedural delays that let these vloggers scout free without having any fear of the consequences.
It has to be noted that before approaching the Delhi High Court, the petitioners approached several authorities including the Women Commission of Uttarakhand and the National Commission for Women (NCW) with complaints against multiple vloggers. OpIndia noted that there was a list of 50 odd channels uploading such videos consistently on YouTube. During discussion about the matter, Adv Amita Sachdeva pointed out that the channels mentioned in the PIL were just the tip of the iceberg and there must be several other channels that upload similar content on YouTube. Despite the efforts of the petitioners, firm action on the vloggers was not taken leading to PIL in the Delhi High Court.
Petitioners also followed-up on the complaints filed at Women Commission of Uttarakhand and NCW. Following the complaints, NCW sought some additional details that were promptly provided by the petitioners. It was also acknowledged by the Department of Reforms and Public Grievances and the forwarded complaint carried a note from then-Union Minister Smriti Irani highlighting the seriousness of the issue. The matter was raised with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) as well.
Unfortunately, the complaints were closed due to attachment problems with a request to upload the documents again. Meanwhile, acting on the repeated complaints, Circle Office in Haridwar installed “warning boards” on the Haridwar Ghats of Ganga River prohibiting videography, reels and photography. However, the vloggers did not stop and continued uploading similar videos. Petitioners also approached YouTube requesting the removal of the explicit videos but no concrete action was taken.
Later, the petitioners sought judicial intervention in the case and the Delhi High Court listed the matter on 18th July 2024 in the court of Chief Justice. OpIndia accessed the order of the court. Speaking to OpIndia, Adv Sachdeva said that the court recognised the genuine intent behind the petition but asked the petitioners to adhere to the existing IT Rules. The court acknowledged the serious nature of the content in question and appreciated the motive behind the petition while advising the petitioners to seek relief through the established procedure under the IT Rules.
Adv Sachdeva said, “Although I was aware of the IT Rules, I believed the sheer volume of problematic videos—numbering in the millions—justified immediate court intervention. Nonetheless, the court stressed the need to exhaust the remedies provided by the IT Rules first. Should these regulatory channels fail to provide satisfactory relief, we have the option to approach the court again.”
OpIndia investigation
OpIndia investigated the matter and scrolled through the channels and comments mentioned in the PIL. It was found that some of the videos mentioned in the PIL have already been deleted by YouTube but there is a plethora of such videos available on YouTube.
The first channel we came across was “Adbhutvlogs”. It was mentioned in the PIL as well. The channel has 4.88 subscribers and 76 videos. All of the videos on the channel are of women and girls taking holy dip at Ganga Ghat. On one of the videos the comment read, “Thank you for sharing your family bath video. Really enjoyed.” Another comment read, “Maine sexcribe kya es video ko, buht maja aya,” to which the owner of the channel wrote “thanks”.
Here is a screenshot of the channel.
Another channel that we found is named “Hero City Blog”. It has 1600 subscribers and 263 videos. The most popular video on the channel has 24,000 videos. Most of the videos on the channel were of women and girls taking dip in Ganga. It was evident from the videos that the person recording the video used the zoom feature to record the videos from a distance.
The third channel we noticed is the Govind UK vlog. It has 17,200 subscribers and 285 videos. The most popular video on the channel has over 8.4 lakh views which was uploaded 10 months ago.
On a video that was uploaded 10 months ago, there was a comment in Hindi that loosely translated to “Whenever I want to masturbate, I watch Ganga Snan videos”. The level of filth in the comments and the way these videos have gained traction on YouTube is shocking.
We also found a channel “Mohit Saini Technical” where some of the videos were visibly of minor girls.
The channel has over 6,000 subscrivers and 1,400 videos. Some of the comments included by the petitioners in the PIL can be seen in the screenshots below.
The videos and comments show that there is a need for immediate action by the authorities in the matter. The persistent posting of derogatory videos, despite complaints and warnings, underscores a significant failure of the authorities to control such elements at sacred ghats of Ganga. The serious and sensitive nature of the content, which exploits women and minor girls, demands swift and decisive action. Authorities must enforce stricter regulations, ensure robust monitoring of platforms like YouTube, and take immediate action against the uploaders to prevent such exploitation in the future.
