The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: After the Supreme Court ordered that the identity of the doctor raped and murdered at the R.G. Kar Hospital be removed from Wikipedia, the Wikimedia Foundation, which is the parent organisation of Wikipedia has appealed to its volunteer editors to consider the issue.
While the foundation itself doesn’t edit or censor articles, The Hindu reported that a representative of the foundation has participated in a user discussion with its volunteer editors about whether the victim’s name should be removed for now.
“The Wikimedia Foundation has received enquiries related to the Indian Supreme Court’s ruling against the inclusion of the name and image of the victim of this crime in online media. Organisations supporting victims of sexual violence have advocated for this general practice. In some cases, naming the victim of sexual violence may involve considering the safety of the victim’s family and friends,” Joe Sutherland, who is a part of trust and safety team at the Foundation told users.
The representative pointed out to the users that publications such as the BBC had stopped reporting the victim’s name and publishing the names of sexual assault victims is illegal under Indian law.
“Content issues and concerns on Wikipedia are generally addressed by volunteers. When an issue regarding content on Wikipedia is reported to the Wikimedia Foundation, we first reach out to Wikipedia’s volunteer community to flag the issue and help them resolve it in adherence to the applicable policies and guidelines,” a foundation spokesperson told The Hindu.
“It is important to understand that while the Wikimedia Foundation is a U.S.-headquartered organisation, we’re not insensitive to laws and cultural nuances in other locations,” Sutherland told users.
“Other nations’ laws affect the Wikimedia projects, the people who make the projects happen, and people who access them … When the community comes to a consensus on a content issue, it’s very important and extremely useful for there to be compelling and clearly articulated reasons for that decision. This helps the Foundation explain the outcome to courts” and other authorities, he added, reported The Hindu.