Lok Sabha Question No. 3752 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-25
Subject: Cyber-Crime against Children
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Kanimozhi Karunanidhi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3752

TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.03.2022

## CYBER-CRIME AGAINST CHILDREN

## 3752. SHRIMATI KANIMOZHI KARUNANIDHI:

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD  DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has taken any measures to make online space safe for children  keeping  in  view  the  fact  that  cyber  crime  against  children  rose  to  400 percent compared to 2019 as per the NCRB report 2020;
- (b) if  so,  the details thereof including guidelines issued to the internet companies if any, for making the internet a safe place for children; and
- (c) If not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

- (a)  to  (c):  As  per  the  information  received  from  National  Crime  Records  Bureau State/UT-wise Cases Registered (CR), Cases Chargesheeted (CCS), Cases Convicted (CON), Persons Arrested (PAR), Persons Chargesheeted (PCS) and Persons Convicted (PCV) under Total Cyber Crimes against Children  in 2019 and 2020 is  at Annexure-I.

To  strengthen  the  mechanism  to  deal  with  cyber  crimes  including  crimes  against children  in  a  comprehensive  and  coordinated  manner,  the  Central  Government  has taken measures in consultation with various stakeholders which, inter-alia, include the following:

- i.)  The  Protection  of  Children  from  Sexual  Offences  (POCSO)  Act,  2012  enacted  by Govt  of  India  provides  safeguards  for  children  against  sexual  abuse.  The  Act  was amended in 2019 to introduce more stringent punishment to deter the perpetrators & prevent  such  crimes  against  children.  Section-14  of  the  Protection  of  Children  from Sexual  Offence  (POCSO)  Act  provides  Punishment  for  using  child  for  pornographic purposes which was also amended in 2019. As per section-14:
- (1) Whoever uses a child or children for pornographic purposes shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years and shall also be  liable  to  fine,  and  in  the  event  of  second  or  subsequent  conviction  with imprisonment  for  a  term  which  shall  not  be  less  than  seven  years  and  also  be liable to fine.

(2)  Whoever  using  a  child  or  children  for  pornographic  purposes  under  subsection (1), commits an offence referred to in section 3 or section 5 or section 7 or section 9 by directly participating in such pornographic acts, shall be punished for the  said  offences  also  under  section  4,  section  6,  section  8  and  section  10, respectively, in addition to the punishment provided in sub-section (1)."

- ii.)  Section  67B  of  the  Information  Technology  (IT)  Act,  2000  provides  stringent punishment for publishing, transmitting or viewing child sexual abuse material online.
- iii.)  The  Information  Technology  (Intermediary  Guidelines  and  Digital  Media  Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 empower the users of Intermediaries and makes the social media platforms accountable for their safety. The Rules require the intermediaries to adopt a robust  grievance  redressal  mechanism  including  time-bound  disposal  of  grievances. The  Intermediaries  need  to  convey  their  terms  and  conditions  which  must  include communication to users not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, update or  share  any  information  that  is  inter-alia  harmful,  defamatory,  obscene,  invasive  of another's privacy, harm minors in any way or are otherwise unlawful.  Intermediaries are also expected to remove any information violative of any law in India as  and when brought  to  their  knowledge  either  through  a  court  order  or  through  a  notice  by  an appropriate government or its authorised agency. The Rules also require Significant Social Media Intermediary (SSMI) to endeavour to deploy technology based measures to proactively identify child sexual abuse material.
- iv.) 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.
- v.)  Government  has  issued  an  order  to  concerned  Internet  Service  Providers  (ISPs) ordering them to implement  Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), UK or Project Arachnid, Canada list of CSAM websites/webpages on a dynamic basis and block access to such child pornography webpages/websites.
- vi.)  MeitY  through  a  program,  namely,  Information  Security  Education  &  Awareness (ISEA),  has  been  creating  awareness  among  users  including  women  and  children highlighting the importance of digital safety while using Internet. A dedicated website for information security awareness (https://www.infosecawareness.in) provides relevant awareness material.
- vii.)  National  Commission  for  Protection  of  Child  Rights  also  organized  different awareness  generation  programmes  on  various  aspects  of  Child  sexual  abuse  and POCSO Act.

****

ANNEXURE-I

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN PART (A) TO (C) OF REPLY TO LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3752 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.03.2022 ASKED BY SHRIMATI KANIMOZHI KARUNANIDHI STATE/UT-WISE CASES REGISTERED (CR), CASES CHARGESHEETED (CCS), CASES CONVICTED (CON), PERSONS ARRESTED (PAR), PERSONS  CHARGESHEETED  (PCS)  AND  PERSONS  CONVICTED  (PCV)  UNDER  TOTAL  CYBER  CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN IN 2019 AND 2020

| SL   | State/UT                    | 2019   | 2019   | 2019   | 2019   | 2019   | 2019   | 2020   | 2020   | 2020   | 2020   | 2020   | 2020   |
|------|-----------------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| SL   | State/UT                    | CR     | CCS    | CON    | PAR    | PCS    | PCV    | CR     | CCS    | CON    | PAR    | PCS    | PCV    |
| 1    | Andhra Pradesh              | 9      | 5      | 0      | 10     | 6      | 0      | 52     | 5      | 0      | 22     | 6      | 0      |
| 2    | Arunachal Pradesh           | 1      | 0      | 0      | 2      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 3    | Assam                       | 7      | 2      | 0      | 6      | 3      | 0      | 45     | 6      | 0      | 6      | 10     | 0      |
| 4    | Bihar                       | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 5    | Chhattisgar h               | 5      | 5      | 0      | 4      | 5      | 0      | 21     | 17     | 1      | 25     | 25     | 1      |
| 6    | Goa                         | 1      | 2      | 0      | 0      | 2      | 0      | 3      | 0      | 0      | 1      | 0      | 0      |
| 7    | Gujarat                     | 7      | 5      | 0      | 5      | 5      | 0      | 32     | 32     | 0      | 63     | 63     | 0      |
| 8    | Haryana                     | 5      | 3      | 0      | 13     | 11     | 0      | 33     | 19     | 0      | 24     | 23     | 0      |
| 9    | Himachal Pradesh            | 9      | 2      | 0      | 2      | 2      | 0      | 19     | 5      | 0      | 9      | 6      | 0      |
| 10   | Jharkhand                   | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 4      | 3      | 0      | 2      | 3      | 0      |
| 11   | Karnataka                   | 10     | 1      | 0      | 3      | 1      | 0      | 144    | 12     | 0      | 34     | 12     | 0      |
| 12   | Kerala                      | 30     | 12     | 0      | 28     | 18     | 0      | 126    | 35     | 0      | 121    | 36     | 0      |
| 13   | Madhya Pradesh              | 20     | 20     | 0      | 37     | 34     | 0      | 39     | 33     | 0      | 55     | 58     | 0      |
| 14   | Maharashtr a                | 70     | 56     | 2      | 82     | 81     | 2      | 207    | 65     | 0      | 101    | 78     | 0      |
| 15   | Manipur                     | 1      | 0      | 0      | 5      | 0      | 0      | 3      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 16   | Meghalaya                   | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 17   | Mizoram                     | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 18   | Nagaland                    | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 19   | Odisha                      | 5      | 1      | 0      | 8      | 1      | 0      | 71     | 47     | 0      | 84     | 84     | 0      |
| 20   | Punjab                      | 1      | 2      | 0      | 2      | 2      | 0      | 10     | 9      | 0      | 9      | 9      | 0      |
| 21   | Rajasthan                   | 9      | 8      | 1      | 13     | 13     | 3      | 24     | 16     | 0      | 22     | 22     | 0      |
| 22   | Sikkim                      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 23   | Tamil Nadu                  | 5      | 2      | 0      | 3      | 3      | 0      | 35     | 5      | 0      | 15     | 5      | 0      |
| 24   | Telangana                   | 3      | 1      | 0      | 5      | 1      | 0      | 9      | 0      | 0      | 8      | 0      | 0      |
| 25   | Tripura                     | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 26   | Uttar Pradesh               | 98     | 90     | 1      | 113    | 109    | 1      | 197    | 121    | 0      | 50     | 181    | 0      |
| 27   | Uttarakhand                 | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 11     | 4      | 0      | 4      | 4      | 0      |
| 28   | West Bengal                 | 6      | 4      | 0      | 3      | 7      | 0      | 6      | 1      | 0      | 3      | 1      | 0      |
|      | TOTAL STATE(S)              | 303    | 221    | 4      | 344    | 304    | 6      | 1092   | 435    | 1      | 658    | 626    | 1      |
| 29   | A&N Islands                 | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 1      | 2      | 0      | 0      | 2      | 0      |
| 30   | Chandigarh                  | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 3      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 31   | D&N Haveli and Daman & Diu+ | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 32   | Delhi                       | 3      | 2      | 0      | 5      | 5      | 0      | 5      | 2      | 0      | 2      | 2      | 0      |
| 33   | Jammu & Kashmir*            | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 34   | Ladakh                      | -      | -      | -      | -      | -      | -      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 35   | Lakshadwe ep                | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 36   | Puducherry                  | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
|      | TOTAL UT(S)                 | 3      | 2      | 0      | 5      | 5      | 0      | 10     | 4      | 0      | 2      | 4      | 0      |
|      | TOTAL (ALL INDIA)           | 306    | 223    | 4      | 349    | 309    | 6      | 1102   | 439    | 1      | 660    | 630    | 1      |