Social media platforms told to take down Manipur video

NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday directed social media platforms Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and others to take down the video of two Manipuri women being paraded naked, and asked the platforms to keep a check on any inflammatory posts related to the matter.

The video went viral on social media platforms, and the government believed it could lead to further escalation of tensions in the state as well as in other parts of the country if not taken down immediately.

“This issue required urgent action, and we immediately issued orders for taking down the video. We have 100% compliance on the matter,” a top official in the IT ministry said.

The video shows a group of men molesting the two women, and has caused outrage across the country as it started to spread through the social media platforms.

Women and child development minister Smriti Irani said she had spoken to Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh over video as she termed the incident “condemnable and downright inhuman”.

“I have been assured by the chief minister that expeditious action will be taken against the perpetrators. It has now come to light that arrests have been made. I am hopeful that the most stringent punishment will be meted out to the criminals concerned at the earliest,” Irani told TOI.

On Wednesday night, Irani had tweeted, “The horrific video of sexual assault of two women emanating from Manipur is condemnable and downright inhuman.”