 bill no 108 of  2016 the prevention of adverse photography bill, 2016 byshri rajeev satav, mpa billto prevent adverse photography with a view to ensure that advancement in photography and drone technology does not lead to violation of privacy of individuals or servicemen on the line of duty or pose threat to the places of national or strategic importancebe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:— chapter i preliminary(3) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—definitions5(a) "adverse", in relation to photography, means  making video recording or taking photograph of a person without that person's implied or express consent and where such recording or photography is defamatory, distressful or capable of causing considerable damage to that person;(b) "drone" means any non-state, manned or unmanned, aerial vehicle which is capable of taking photographs or creating videos;10(c) "photography" means the process of producing images or videos of object using any device including, but not limited to, cameras, mobile phones, camcorders and other recording devices; and(d) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act chapter ii prohibition of adverse photography153 no person shall, for private consumption, indulge in adverse photography and take photograph of an unrelated individual without his consent204 no person shall indulge in photography, adverse or otherwise, or obtain or cause to obtain such photographs of policemen, defence personnel or any other servicemen on the line of duty for public consumption in a manner in which—(a) individual is personally identifiable; and (b) private or sensitive information of such individual is photographedprovisions for violation of individual privacy for private consumption provisions for violation of privacy of policemen, servicemen or defence personnel on the line of duty5 no person shall indulge in photography or take or cause to take photographs of a private property if the owner of such property explicitly by signage so prohibits:provisions for private property photography25provided that nothing in this section shall apply to a private property which is generally open to public unless specially prohibited in the interest of national security or public safety6 (1) every owner of a drone shall register such details of drone, as may be prescribed, with such authority of the central government, as may be designated for this purposeprovisions for use of drone technology30(2)  no person shall use drone technology to capture photographs of places of national or strategic importance without the prior permission of the directorate general of civil aviation, government of india(3) in addition to punishment which may be imposed on a person violating the provisions of sub-section (2), a drone found capturing photographs in violation of sub-section (2) may also be shot down punishments7 whoever contravenes the provision of section 3 shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend upto three years or fine which shall not be less than rupees one lakhpunishment for violation of individual privacy for private consumption| 8                                                                                            ||-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| for a term which may extend upto three years or fine which shall not be less than rupees five || lakh                                                                                         || punishment                                                                                    || for violation                                                                                 || of privacy of                                                                                 || policemen,                                                                                    || servicemen or                                                                                 || defence                                                                                       || personnel on                                                                                  || the line of                                                                                   || duty                                                                                         |5| 9                                                                                           | whoever contravenes the provision of section 5 shall be punished with imprisonment   ||----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| for a term which may extend upto three years or fine which shall not be less than rupees one |                                                                                      || lakh                                                                                        |                                                                                      || punishment                                                                                   |                                                                                      || for violation                                                                                |                                                                                      || of provisions                                                                                |                                                                                      || for private                                                                                  |                                                                                      || property                                                                                     |                                                                                      || photography                                                                                 |                                                                                      || 10                                                                                          | whoever contravenes the provision of sub-sections (                                  || punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three years but which     |                                                                                      || may extend upto seven years and with fine which shall not be less than rupees five lakh     |                                                                                      || punishment                                                                                   |                                                                                      || for violation                                                                                |                                                                                      || of provisions                                                                                |                                                                                      || to curb illegal                                                                              |                                                                                      || drone                                                                                        |                                                                                      || photography                                                                                 |                                                                                      |10 chapter iv miscellaneouspower to remove difficulties11 if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the central government may make such order or give such direction, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as may appear to it to be necessary or expedient for the removal of the difficulty:15provided that no such order or direction shall be made after the expiration of two yearsfrom the commencement of this act12 the provisions of this act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in forceact to have overriding effect power to make rules2013 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the provisions of this act25(2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement of objects and reasonsthe last few years have seen significant improvement in photography technologyevery person today carries a camera phone in his pocket every day, a number of cases are reported where misguided elements of the society capture inappropriate pictures or videos, especially of women the current section 354 of indian penal code, 1860 dealing with punishment for outraging the modesty of a woman is insufficient to deal with misuse of adverse photography for two reasons—firstly, it is not gender neutral secondly, secretly capturing someone's photo may not directly and immediately have a component of assault or criminal force or done with the intent to outrage a woman's modesty but such an immoral act should be illegal nonethelessadditionally, capturing, communicating or displaying of faces of policemen, servicemen or defence personnel on the line of duty could be of significant threat to operations or to their families in certain democracies, such act of capturing photos of armed personnel is explicitly covered under counter-terrorism acts reporting of any operation by media professions is quintessential but that also carries the duty of not causing harm, intentional or unintentional, to the security of either the nation or the families of forcesmoreover, number of countries around the world are trying to minimise the threats posed by drones by regulating the usage of drone technology the number of drones is only going to rise in future and we need to have a pre-emptive legislation to ensure the safety of our skies at the same time, drones are being developed across the world with specific intent of understanding the structures or creating the replicas of places of strategic importance such drones vary from the size of aerial toys to large scale planes recently, a person was captured with a small sized drone flying around the prime minister's residence repetition of such an incidence can't be tolerated under any circumstancescurrently, foreign citizen require a "permit" for creating documentary or television show or feature films the permit process can take thirty days the bill seeks to remove the distinction between foreign nationals and indian citizens creating photographs or videos so long as it is done for personal consumption and to prescribe punishment for violation of the provisionshowever, the permit will still be required for all photographs/videos created or used for commercial or public purposes including use at various international forums and competitionsthe bill, therefore, with a view to prevent the misuse of adverse photography seeks to provide for:—(i) prohibition of taking photograph of unrelated individual without his consentfor private consumption;(ii) prohibition of taking photograph of policemen or servicemen on the line ofduty for public consumption which is personally identifiable or sensitive;(iii) prohibition of photography of private property explicitly prohibited by owner; and(iv) registration of drones and restriction on the use of drones for specific purposes hence this billnew delhi;rajeev satavfebruary 12, 2016 memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 13 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character lok sabha———— a billto prevent adverse photography with a view to ensure that advancement in photography and drone technology does not lead to violation of privacy of individuals or servicemen on the line of duty or pose threat to the places of national or strategic importance————(shri rajeev satav, mp)gmgipmrnd—28ls(s3)—26042016