Lok Sabha Question No. 16 (STARRED), answered on 2022-12-07
Subject: Cyber Crime against Children
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Rajashree Mallick, Nishikant  Dubey

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO.*16

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 07.12.2022

## CYBER CRIME  AGAINST  CHILDREN

## *16.     SHRIMATI RAJASHREE MALLICK: DR. NISHIKANT DUBEY:

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

- (a) whether cyber crimes against children have increased during the last two years and if so, the details of the steps being taken by the Government to check the same;
- (b) the details of the steps taken by the Government to tackle several confidentiality related risks to children like cyber threat and online harassment; and
- (c) the details of various steps taken to check fake calls, fake messages, etc.?

## ANSWER

MINISTER FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a) to (c):    A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN THE REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *16 FOR 07.12.2022, REGARDING CYBER CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN

………

As  per  data  published  by  the  National  Crime  Records  Bureau,  1,102  and  1,376  cases  of cybercrime against children were registered during the years 2020 and 2021 respectively.

The Information Technology Act, 2000 ('IT Act') and rules made thereunder contain provisions aimed at making cyberspace safe and accountable for children.Section 67B of the IT Act penalises the publishing or transmitting of electronic material depicting children in sexually explicit act, the creation  of  text  or  images,  collection,  seeking,  browsing,  downloading,  advertising,  promotion, exchange or distribution of electronic material depicting them in obscene or indecent or sexually explicit manner, cultivating or enticing or inducing them to online relationship with other children for sexually explicit act or in an offending  manner,  facilitating their online abuse,  and electronically recording abuse pertaining to sexually explicit act with children. Such an offence is punishable  with  imprisonment  of  up  to  five  years  on  first  conviction  and  seven  years  on subsequent conviction along with fine of up to ten lakh rupees, and is a cognizable offence. Since as per the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, prevention and investigation of cognizable offences is  to  be  done  by  the  police  and  'Police'  is  a  State  subject  under  the  Seventh  Schedule  to  the Constitution,  States  are  primarily  responsible  for  the  prevention,  investigation  etc.  of  such cybercrime  against  children.  Accordingly,  State  police  departments  take  preventive  and  penal action as per law in respect of cybercrime against children.

Further,  the  Central  Government,  in  exercise  of  powers  conferred  by  the  IT  Act,  has  made  the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. With a view to enhance the safety of cyberspace and strengthen the mechanism to deal with such cybercrimes in a coordinated manner, these rules require intermediaries to observe, among others, diligence as under:

- (i) To make reasonable efforts to cause the users not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit,  store,  update  or  share,  information  which  is  harmful  to  child,  or  obscene,  or invasive of another's bodily privacy, or violates any law;
- (ii) On a voluntary basis on violation of the above, and on actual knowledge upon receipt of a grievance  or  court  order  or  notice  from  the  appropriate  government  or  its  agency , to  not host, store or publish unlawful information prohibited under law for the time being in force in relation to the interest of decency or morality or defamation;
- (iii) Upon  receipt  of  an  order  from  a  lawfully  authorised  government  agency,  to  provide information or assistance for prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution under law;
- (iv) To have in place a grievance redressal machinery, and resolve complaints of violation of the rules  within  72  hours  of  being  reported  and,  in  case  of  a  complaint  by  an  individual  or her/his  authorised  representative,  remove  within  24  hours  any  content  which prima  facie exposes the private area of such individual, shows such individual in full or partial nudity or shows or depicts such individual in any sexual act or conduct; further, the rules have been amended  on  28.10.2022  to  provide  for  the  establishment  of  one  or  more  Grievance Appellate  Committee(s)  to  allow  users  to  appeal  against  decisions  taken  by  Grievance Officers on such complaints;
- (v) In  case  an  intermediary  is  a  significant  social  media  intermediary  ( i.e., an  intermediary having more than 50 lakh registered users in India), to additionally observe due diligence in terms  of  appointing  a  Chief  Compliance  Officer,  a  nodal contact  person  for  24x7 coordination  with  law  enforcement  agencies  and  a  Resident  Grievance  Officer,  and  to endeavour  to  deploy  technology-based  measures,  including  automated  tools  or  other

mechanisms, to proactively identify  information  that  depicts  any  act  or  simulation  in  any form depicting child sexual abuse or conduct.

To further strengthen the mechanism to deal with such cybercrimes in a coordinated manner, the Government has also taken several other measures, including the following:

- (i) The  Ministry of Home  Affairs  operates a National Cyber  Crime  Reporting  Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in) to enable citizens to report complaints pertaining to all types of cybercrimes, with special focus on cybercrimes against children. The Ministry has also set up the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) to deal with all types of cybercrime, including cybercrime against children, in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.
- (ii) The  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  has  provided  financial  assistance  to  States  and  Union territories  under  the  Cyber  Crime  Prevention  against  Women  and  Children  Scheme  for capacity  building,  including  for  the  setting  up  of  cyber  forensic-cum-training  laboratories and  training  of  personnel  of  law  enforcement  agencies,  public  prosecutors  and  judicial officers.  So  far,  cyber  forensic-cum-training  laboratories  have  been  commissioned  in  30 States and Union territories.
- (iii) Government has from time to time blocked websites containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), based on lists from Interpol received through the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's national nodal agency for Interpol.
- (iv) Government has issued an order to Internet Service Providers, directing them to implement Internet Watch Foundation, UK or Project Arachnid, Canada list of CSAM websites/webpages on a dynamic basis and block access to such web pages or websites.
- (v) The Department of Telecommunications has requested Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to spread awareness among their subscribers about the use of parental control filters, and has also directed ISPs with International Long Distance license to block certain websites found to be containing CSAM.
- (vi) The Central Board of Secondary Education has issued guidelines on 18.8.2017 to schools on the  safe  and  secure  use  of  Internet.  These  guidelines  direct  schools  to  install  effective firewalls,  filtering  and  monitoring  software  mechanisms  in  all  computers  and  to  deploy effective security policies.
- (vii) To spread awareness on cybercrime, the Ministry of Home Affairs has taken several steps that include dissemination of messages on cybercrime through the Twitter handle @cyberDost, radio campaigns and publishing of a Handbook for Adolescents/Students.
- (viii) The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is implementing the Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA) Phase-II project to build capacities in the area of information  security,  train  government  personnel  and  create  mass  information  security awareness  for  users.  Under  this,  a  large  number  of  awareness  workshops  have  been conducted  across  the  country,  school  teachers  trained  as  master  trainers  to  reach  out  to crores  of  users  in  the  indirect  mode  through  Cyber  Safety  and  Cyber  Security  Awareness Weeks organised in select cities in collaboration with State Cyber Cell / Police departments, mass awareness programmes broadcasted through Doordarshan / All India Radio, bimonthly newsletters published in print and digital mode, and multilingual awareness content in the form  of  handbooks,  multimedia  short  videos,  posters  etc.,  which  have  been  disseminated through  print,  electronic  and  social  media  and  made  available  for  download  on  the  ISEA awareness portal (www.infosecawareness.in).
- (ix) A memorandum of understanding has been signed between India's National Crime Records Bureau and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of the United States of America,  for  sharing  of  tipline  reports  on  online  child  explicit  material  and  child  sexual exploitation contents from the said Center. The tip lines, as received from the Center, are shared online with States and Union territories through the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal for further action.

With  regard  to  fake  calls,  fake  messages,  etc.,  it  is  informed  that  section  66D  of  the  IT  Act penalises cheating by impersonating by means of any communication device or computer resource and the  same  is  punishable  with  imprisonment  of  up  to  three  years  and  fine  of  up  to  one  lakh rupees. As the offence is a cognizable offence, State police departments take preventive and penal action  as  per  law  in  respect  of  the  same.  Further,  the  Information  Technology  (Intermediary

Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 require intermediaries to observe, among others, diligence to make reasonable efforts to cause the users not to host, display, upload, modify, publish,  transmit,  store,  update  or  share,  information  which  deceives  or  misleads  the  addressee about the origin of the message or knowingly and intentionally communicates any misinformation or information which is patently false and untrue or misleading in nature, or impersonates another person. Further, other due diligence as applicable in respect of cybercrimes against children is also applicable in respect of information, misinformation or impersonation as said.

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