Lok Sabha Question No. 3266 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-23
Subject: Cyber Crimes against Women
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Anto  Antony

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3266

TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.03.2022

## CYBER CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN

## 3266. SHRI ANTO ANTONY:

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

- (a)  the  number  of  reported  cyber-crimes  committed  against  women  and  children  during  the pandemic, State-wise and from Year 2020;
- (b) whether the Government is taking any special measures for prevention of cyber-crimes against children and women and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government intends to train law enforcement agencies to handle digital forensics and investigate cyber crimes specifically against women and children and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons thereon; and
- (d) whether the Government has set up any committee or agency to tackle the rising cyber crimes against children and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

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

(a):  The  National  Crime  Records  Bureau  (NCRB)  compiles  and  publishes  statistical  data  on crimes in its publication 'Crime in India'. The latest published report is for the year 2020. As per data published by NCRB, during the year 2020, a total of 1,102 and 10,405 cases of cyber crime against children and women were registered, respectively. The state-wise data for the year 2020 is at Annexure-I.

(b):'Police' and 'Public Order' are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of  India.  States/UTs  are  primarily  responsible  for  the  prevention,  detection,  investigation  and prosecution  of  crimes  through  their  Law  Enforcement  Agencies  (LEAs).  The  LEAs  take  legal action as per provisions of law against the offenders.

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

- (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  sexually  explicit  imagery  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 empower the users of Intermediaries and makes the social media platforms accountable for users' safety.  The Rules inter alia provide for
-  Expeditious removal of any revenge porn and such other similar content
-  Significant Social media Intermediary (SSMI)  to deploy technology based measures to proactively identify child sexual abuse material.
-  A robust grievance redressal mechanism.
- (iii) 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.
- (iv) Internet  Service  Providers  (ISPs)  have  been  directed  to  block  CSAM  on  a  daily  basis based  on  list  made  available  by  Internet  Watch  Foundation  (IWF),  UK  or  Project Arachnid,  Canada.  ISPs  also    block  websites  containing  extreme  child  sexual  abuse material  (CSAM)  based  on  INTERPOL's  'worst  of  list'  provided    by  the  government, through Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the national nodal agency for Interpol in India.
- (v) Department of Telecom (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) To  spread awareness on cybercrime, MHA  has  taken  several steps that include dissemination  of  messages  on  cybercrime  through  Twitter  handle  @cyberDost,  radio campaign, publishing of Handbook for Adolescents / Students.
- (vii) 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.

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 are available for download on the website https://www.infosecawareness.in/women.

- (viii) A MoU has been  signed between the NCRB, India and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), USA regarding receiving of Tipline report on online child pornography  and  child  sexual  exploitation  contents  from  NCMEC.  The  Tip  lines,  as received from NCMEC,  are  being  shared with Stats/UTs online through Nation Cybercrime Reporting Portal for taking further action.

(c): In order to ensure  Safe & Trusted  Internet for all its users, MeitY has initiated many projects like Setting up of a Collaborative and Comprehensive Live Cyber Operations Specific Exercise Training  Facility  (Cyber  Closet)  for  Indian  Cyber  Space,  Development  of  Cyber  Forensic Training  cum  Investigation  Labs  in  North-Eastern  States  and  Cloud  based  centralized  Cyber Forensics Lab Infrastructures and Capacity Development on Smart Device Forensics Investigations  and  Creation  of  Resource  Centre  for  the  North  Eastern  Police  Forces.  MeitY  is already conducting a capacity building programme on cyber laws, crime investigation and digital forensics through  Learning Management System

A Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platform, namely 'CyTrain' portal has been developed under  I4C  for  capacity  building  of  police  officers/judicial  officers  through  online  course  on critical  aspects  of  cybercrime  investigation,  forensics,  prosecution  etc.  along  with  certification. More than 11,200 Police Officers from States/UTs are registered and more than 2750 Certificates issued through the portal. MHA has also provided financial assistance to the tune of Rs. 96.13 crore  under  Cyber  Crime  Prevention  against  Women  and  Children  (CCPWC)  Scheme  to  the States/UTs.  for setting up of cyber forensic-cum-training laboratories and capacity building of Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), public prosecutors and judicial officers. Cyber forensic-cumtraining  laboratories  have  been  commissioned  in  28  States/UTs  including  Gujarat.  Training curriculum  has  been  prepared  for  LEA  personnel,  public  prosecutors  and  judicial  officers  for better  handling  of  investigation  and  prosecution.  States/UTs  have  been  requested  to  organize training  programmes.  More  than  19,600  LEA  personnel,  judicial  officers  and  prosecutors  have been  provided  training  on  cyber  crime  awareness,  investigation,  forensics  etc.  under  CCPWC Scheme.

(d):  Government  has  already  created  a  special  body  namely  The  National  Commission  for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) under the administrative control of the Ministry of Women &  Child  Development.   The  Commission's  Mandate  is  to  ensure  that  all  Laws,  Policies, Programmes,  and Administrative Mechanisms  are in consonance with the Child Rights perspective as enshrined in the Constitution of India and also the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

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## Annexure-I