Lok Sabha Question No. 601 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-01
Subject: Safety of users on Internet
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Bhartruhari Mahtab

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 601

TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.12.2021

## SAFETY OF USERS ON INTERNET

## 601 SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB:

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

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  taken  note  of  the  growing  concern  regarding  the  safety  and security of users, particularly women and children, on the internet and if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  whether  the  Government  has  rolled  out  new  rules/guidelines  to  ensure  online  safety  and dignity of women users and give a framework to deal with content, including fake content, which results in heinous crimes and if so, the details thereof;

(c) the details of the necessary steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to eliminate childpornography, rape and gang rape imageries, offensive videos, and sites and content hosting platforms and other applications?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

(a) to (c):Government is committed for Open, Safe & Trusted and Accountable internet while intermediaries shall always respect the Constitutional rights of all Indian citizens.  Government has taken several steps for digital safety of people including women and children that inter alia , include:

- (i) The  Information  Technology  (IT)  Act,  2000  has  provisions  to  deal  with  prevalent cyber crimes including the ones related to women and children.  Sections 66E, 67, and  67A  of  the  Act  provide  for  the  punishment  and  fine  for  violation  of  bodily privacy  and  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 354C and 354D of Indian Penal Code provide punishment for cyber bullying and cyber stalking.
- (ii) The  Information  Technology  (Intermediary  Guidelines  and  Digital  Media  Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 notified under the  IT  Act  particularly  deals  with  citizen  safety especially for women and children. The Rules require that the intermediaries shall observe due diligence while discharging their duties and shall inform their users not

to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, update or share any information that is harmful, defamatory, obscene and invasive of another's privacy or otherwise unlawful in  any  manner  whatsoever.    The  intermediary  shall  also  adopt  grievance redressal mechanism as prescribed in the Rules. 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.

- (iii)Further,  rule  3(2)(b)  of  these  Rules  provides  that  on  a  complaint  by  an  individual intermediary shall, within 24 hours, remove 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, or is in the nature of impersonation in an electronic form, including artificially morphed images of such individual.
- (iv) Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) operates a National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, www.cybercrime.gov.in  to  enable  citizens  to  report  complaints  pertaining  to  all types  of  cyber  crimes  with  special  focus  on  cyber  crimes  against  women  and children.
- (v) MeitY  through  a  program,  namely,  Information  Security  Education  &  Awareness (ISEA),  has  been  creating  awareness  among  users  highlighting  the  importance  of following the ethics while using Internet and advising them not to share rumours/fake news. A  dedicated website for information security awareness (https://www.infosecawareness.in) provides relevant awareness material.

Besides conducting training and awareness workshop including those exclusively for women, ISEA has published an exclusive  handbook  namely 'Information  Security Awareness  handbook  for  Women',  'Cyber  Security  tips  for  Women' and  'Online Safety  tips  for  Women  @  Home  during  COVID  19'.  The  awareness  content designed/developed exclusively for women have been made available for download on the website https://www.infosecawareness.in/women.

- (vi) 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.

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