set up a sex offenders registry in India is under preparation in consultation with relevant ministries/organizations before they are put out for wider consultation with the state governments and the public," the MHA said in an affidavit filed in the SC.

"The initial consultation draft includes the registration of individuals convicted for offences like rape voyeurism, stalking and aggravated sexual assault and includes possibility of registration of offenders below and above 18 years." Sex-offender registries exist in many countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Ireland. But among these, the US is the only country with a registry that is publicly accessible.

SUNITHA KRISHNAN PUSHING FOR MOVE

In other countries the databases are only available to law enforcement agencies.Some observers fear that identifying convicted rapists will lead to vigilante attacks. The affidavit came on a PIL filed by social activist Sunitha Krishnan, founder of the NGO Prajwala, who says she has rescued and rehabilitated more than 10,000 rape victims. She had sought such a register given the steep rise in the number of rapes and shockingly videos of such incidents being uploaded on social media.

Krishnan, who received 200 such videos from victims and forwarded them to the SC bench that ordered a CBI probe, told Mail Today: "From most of the videos, it is clear that this is not the offender's first rape due to the ease with which the men go about the act." The database will likely include personal details of the convicted including