Lok Sabha Question No. 2871 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-10
Subject: Cyber Crime against Women and Children
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Nishikant  Dubey

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2871

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 10.07.2019

## CYBER CRIME AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN

## 2871. DR. NISHIKANT DUBEY:

Will the Minister of Electronics & Information Technology be pleased to state:-

- (a)    whether the incidents of cyber crime against women and children in the country have increased;
- (b)    if so, the details thereof including the number of such incidents reported during each of the last three years; and
- (c)    the steps being taken by the Government to address this serious issue?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a) and (b): As per the data maintained by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, a total of 749, 792 and 930 cases of cybercrime against women were registered during the year 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively under sections 67 and 67A of the Information Technology (IT) Act 2000. Also, a total of 5, 8 and 17 cases of cybercrime against children were registered during the year 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively under section 67B of the IT Act 2000. As per NCRB, latest data pertains to the year 2016.

Further, a total of 40, 94 and 47 cases were registered during the years 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively under section 14 (using child for pornographic purposes) & section 15 (storage of pornographic material involving child) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

- (c):  Government has taken the several steps to tackle cyber crime against women and children. These, inter alia , include :
- (i) The Information Technology Act, 2000 has provisions to deal with cyber crime against women and children. Sections 66E, 67, and 67A of the Act provides for the punishment and fine for voyeurism, publishing or transmitting of obscene/sexually-explicit material  in  electronic  form.  Section  67B  of  the  Act  specifically  provides  stringent  punishment  for  publishing,  browsing  or transmitting  child  pornography  in  electronic  form.  Further,  sections  354A  and  354D  of  Indian  Penal  Code    provide punishment for cyber bullying and cyber stalking.
- (ii) Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 provides for certain due diligence to be followed by Intermediaries failing which they would be liable. The Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011 notified under section 79 of the Act, inter alia, specifies that the intermediaries shall inform the users of computer resource not to host, display, upload, modify,  publish,  transmit,  update  or  share  any  information  that  is  grossly  harmful,  defamatory,  obscene,  pornographic, paedophilic, harms minor in any way; violates any law for the time being in force; etc.
- (iii) Government periodically blocks the websites containing extreme child sexual abuse material (CSAM) based on INTERPOL's 'worst  of  list'  received  through  Central  Bureau  of  Investigation  (CBI),  the  national  nodal  agency  for  Interpol  in  India. Department of Telecom (DoT) on 11.7.2018 has issued instructions to block 2657 number of such websites.
- (iv) Government  has  issued  an  order  to  concerned  Internet  Service  Providers  (ISPs)  to  work  out  a  suitable  arrangement  for receiving Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), UK list of CSAM websites/webpages on a dynamic basis and block access to child pornography webpages/websites.
- (v) DoT  has  requested  all  Internet  Service  Providers  (ISPs)  to  make  suitable  arrangement  to  spread  awareness  among  their subscribers  about  the  use  of  parental  control  filters  in  the  end-user  machines  through  messages  of  email,  invoices,  SMS, website, etc.
- (vi) Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has issued guidelines on 18.08.2017 to schools on the safe and secure use of Internet.  This  circular  directs  schools  to  install  effective  firewalls,  filtering  and  monitoring  software  mechanisms  in  all  the computers and deploy effective security policies.
- (vii) Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is implementing a comprehensive central sector scheme, namely 'Centre for Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children (CCPWC)' to handle all issues related to check all cyber-crime against women and children including child pornography.
- (viii) National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has published a booklet on 'Child Victims of Cyber Crime Legal  Tool  Kit'  as  a  guide  for  investigating  officers  for  better  understanding  of  the  cyber  crime  related  laws  in  simple language.
- (ix)

POCSO E-box portal by NCPCR was opened for reporting of cyber crime targeting children on 23.06.2017. NCPCR has now enhanced the scope of POCSO E-box on 4.11.2017 to also handle cyber bullying, cyber stalking, morphing of images and child pornography.  The E-Box is also available as mobile app at Google/Apple Play Store.

- (x) Ministry of Home Affairs has issued an Advisory on 4.1.2012 on Preventing & Combating Cyber Crime against Women and Children, wherein it was advised to States/Union Territories to specifically combat the crimes in forms of cyber stalking, cyber bullying, child pornography and exposure to sexually explicit material etc.

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