Lok Sabha Question No. 642 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-04
Subject: Sexual Harrassment of Children
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Rattan Lal Kataria

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 642

TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.02.2022

## SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF CHILDREN

## 642.   SHRI RATTAN LAL KATARIA:

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

- (a) Whether the Government is working on zero tolerance policy against any type of sexual harassment of children and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) Whether  some porn  sites  have  been  banned  during  the  last  five  years  in  this regard and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) Whether  the  number  of  cases  of  cyber  pornography  against  children  have increased during last three years, if so, the details thereof;
- (d) Whether  the  CBI  has  conducted  raids  in  fourteen  States  including  Delhi  in connection of child sexual abuse content recently; and
- (e) If so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (b): The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 enacted by Govt of India provides safeguards for children against sexual abuse. The act defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years. The POCSO Act 2012 provides for establishment of Special Courts for the purpose of ensuring speedy trial. The Act was amended in 2019 to introduce more stringent punishment including death penalty for committing sexual crimes on children, with a view to deter the perpetrators & prevent such crimes against children. Further the POCSO Rules, 2020 have also been notified by the Ministry to protect the children from exploitation/violence and sexual exploitation.

As  per  the  information  provided  by  Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information Technology  and  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs,  measures  undertaken  by  the  Central Government in consultation with various stakeholders to strengthen the mechanism to deal  with  cyber  crimes  including  crimes  against  children  in  a  comprehensive  and coordinated manner include the following:

- i. Section  67B  of  the  Information  Technology  (IT)  Act,  2000  provides  stringent punishment for  publishing,  transmitting  or  viewing  Child  sexual  abuse  material online.
- 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 their safety. The rules require the intermediaries to adopt a robust grievance redressal mechanism including timebound 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 obscene, harmful to child in any way or is otherwise unlawful.  Intermediaries

are  also  expected  to  remove  any  information  that  is  in  violation  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  deploy technology based measures to proactively identify child sexual abuse material.

- 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.  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  has  set  up  the  'Indian  Cyber  Crime Coordination Centre (I4C)' to deal with all types of cyber crime in the country, in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.
- 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) directing  them  to  implement   Internet  Watch  Foundation  (IWF),  UK  or  Project Arachnid, Canada list of CSAM websites/webpages on dynamic basis and block access to such child pornography webpages/websites.
- vi. 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.
- vii. 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.
- viii. Through  Information  Security  Education  &  Awareness  (ISEA)  program,  MeitY has been spreading awareness among users including women and children on the  importance  of  digital  safety  while  using  Internet.  A  dedicated  website  for information security awareness (https://www.infosecawareness.in) provides relevant awareness material.
- ix. The Ministry of Home Affairs has provided financial assistance under the Cyber Crime  Prevention  against  Women  and  Children  (CCPWC)  Scheme  to  all  the States/UTs  for  setting  up  of  cyber  forensic-cum-training  laboratories,  hiring  of junior  cyber  consultants  and  capacity  building  of  Law  Enforcement  Agencies (LEAs),  public  prosecutors  and  judicial  officers.  Cyber  forensic-cum-training laboratories have been commissioned in 28 States/UTs.

(c)  to  (e)  As  per  the  information  provided  by  the  National  Crime Records Bureau the State/UT-wise Cases Registered(CR), Cases Chargesheeted (CCS), Cases Convicted (CON), Persons Arrested (PAR), Persons Chargesheeted (PCS) and Persons Convicted(PCV)  under  Cyber  Pornography/Hosting  or  Publishing  Obscene  Sexual Materials depicting children for Cyber Crimes against Children during 2018-2020 is at Annexure-I.

****

Annexure-I

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (C) TO (E) OF REPLY TO LOK SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  642  FOR  04.02.2022  'SEXUAL  HARASSMENT  OF CHILDREN'  BY  SHRI  RATTAN  LAL  KATARIA  REGARDING  STTATE/UT-WISE  CASES REGISTERED(CR), CASES CHARGESHEETED(CCS), CASES CONVICTED(CON), PERSONS ARRESTED(PAR), PERSONS CHARGESHEETED(PCS) AND PERSONS CONVICTED(PCV) UNDER CYBER PORNOGRAPHY/HOSTING OR PUBLISHING OBSCENE SEXUAL MATERIALS DEPICTING CHILDREN FOR CYBER CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN DURING 2018-2020

| S L                    | State/UT          | 2018   | 2018   | 2018   | 2018   | 2018   |      |      |      |       |       |      | 2019   | 2019   | 2019   | 2019   | 2019   | 2019   |
|------------------------|-------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|------|------|------|-------|-------|------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| S L                    | State/UT          | C R    | C CS   | CO N   | PA R   | P CS   | PC V | C R  | C CS | CO N  | PA R  | P CS | PC V   | C R C  | CO N   | PA R   | P CS   | PC V   |
| 1                      | Andhra Pradesh    | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0    | 2    | 1    | 0     | 2     | 1    | 15     | CS 0   | 0      | 2      | 0      | 0      |
| 2                      | Arunachal Pradesh | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0    | 0    | 0    | 0     | 0     | 0 0  | 0      | 0 0    | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 3                      | Assam             | 1      | 0      | 0      | 1      | 0      | 0    | 6    | 2    | 0     | 5     | 3 0  | 21     | 6      | 0      | 6      | 10     | 0      |
| 4                      | Bihar             | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0    | 0    | 0    | 0     | 0     | 0 0  |        | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 5                      | Chhattisgarh      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0    | 3    | 3    | 0     | 2     | 3 0  | 1 3    | 3      | 0      | 5      | 5      | 0      |
| 6                      | Goa               | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0    | 0    | 0    | 0     | 0     | 0 0  | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 7                      | Gujarat           | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0    | 1    | 0    | 0     | 0     | 0 0  | 1      | 1      | 0      | 4      | 4      | 0      |
| 8                      | Haryana           | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0    | 3    | 1    | 0     | 5 3   | 0    | 16     | 8      | 0      | 11     | 10     | 0      |
| 9                      | Himachal Pradesh  | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0    | 8    | 1    | 0 1   | 1     | 0    | 17     | 5      | 0      | 9      | 6      | 0      |
| 1 0 Jharkhand          |                   | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0    | 0    | 0    | 0     | 0 0   | 0    | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 1 1                    | Karnataka         | 2      | 0 0    |        | 2      | 0      | 0    | 2    | 1    | 0     | 3 1   | 0    | 12 2   | 10     | 0      | 31     | 10     | 0      |
| 1 2 Kerala             |                   | 1      | 1      |        |        | 8      | 1    | 27   | 9    | 0     | 22 14 | 0    | 10 1   | 26     | 0      | 10 3   | 27     | 0      |
| 1 3 Madhya Pradesh     |                   | 8 1    | 8 1    | 14 0   | 1      | 1      | 0    | 8    | 9 4  | 0     | 13    | 10   | 0 20   | 14     | 0      | 17     | 21     | 0      |
| 4 1 Manipur            |                   |        | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |      |      | 0    |       |       |      | 3      |        |        | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 1 Maharashtra          | 0                 |        |        | 0      |        |        | 0    | 6    | 0    | 3     | 4     | 0    | 12     | 31     | 0      | 56     | 38     |        |
| 5                      |                   | 0      | 0      |        | 0      | 0      | 0    | 1    | 0    | 1     | 0     | 0    | 3      | 0      | 0      |        |        | 0      |
| 1 6                    | Meghalaya         | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0    | 0    | 0    | 0     | 0 0   | 0    | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 1 7 Mizoram            |                   | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0    | 0    | 0    | 0     | 0 0   | 0    | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 1 8 Nagaland           |                   | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0    | 0    | 0    | 0     | 0 0   | 0    | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 1 9 Odisha             |                   | 7      | 7      | 0      | 7      | 7      | 0    | 2    | 0    | 0     | 0 0   | 0    | 71     | 46     | 0      | 77     | 77     | 0      |
| 2 0 Punjab 2           |                   | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0    | 1 3  | 0 3  | 0     | 0     | 0 0  | 8      | 8      | 0      | 8      | 8 9    | 0      |
| 1 Rajasthan 2 2 Sikkim |                   | 0 1    | 0 1    | 0 0    | 0 1    | 0 1    | 0 0  | 0    | 0    | 1 0 0 | 8 0   | 8 0  | 3 0    | 6 4 0  | 0 0    | 9 0    | 0      | 0 0    |
| 2 3                    | Tamil Nadu        | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0    | 3    | 1    | 0     | 2 1   | 0    | 28     | 5      | 0      | 11     | 5      | 0      |
| 2 4 Telangana          | 0                 |        | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0    | 0    | 0    | 0 0   | 0     | 0    | 7      | 0      | 0      | 7      | 0      | 0      |
| 2                      | Tripura           | 1      | 0      | 0      | 0 0    |        | 0    | 0    | 0    | 0     | 0 0   | 0    | 0      | 0      |        |        | 0      | 0      |
| 2 6 Uttar              | Pradesh           | 8      | 4      | 0      | 8 7    |        | 0    |      |      | 1     | 37    | 1    |        | 99     | 0      | 12     | 14 7   | 0      |
| 5                      |                   |        |        |        |        |        |      | 25   | 23   | 37    |       |      | 16 1   |        | 0      | 0      |        |        |
| 2 7                    |                   | 1      | 1      | 0      | 2      | 2      | 0    | 0    | 0    | 0     | 0 0   | 0    | 11     | 4      | 0      | 4      | 4      | 0      |
| 2 8                    | West Bengal       | 0      | 0      |        | 0      | 0      | 0    | 1    | 0    | 0     | 0 0   | 0    | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| Uttarakhand            |                   |        |        | 0      |        | 26     | 1    | 10 2 | 58   | 2     | 86    | 4    | 73 5   | 27     | 0      | 37     | 38     | 0      |
| 2                      | TOTAL STATE(S)    | 4 2    | 22     | 1      | 36     |        |      | 0    |      |       | 10 4  |      |        | 0      |        | 2      | 1      | 0      |
| 9                      | A&N Islands       | 1      | 0 0    | 0      | 0      |        | 0    |      | 0    | 0     | 0 0   | 0    | 1      | 2      | 0      | 0      | 2      |        |
| 3                      | Chandigarh        | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0    | 0    | 0    | 0     | 0 0   | 0    |        | 1 0    | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |

| 0                      |                            |     |    |    |    |    |    |      |    |    |      |    |    |      |      |    |      |      |    |
|------------------------|----------------------------|-----|----|----|----|----|----|------|----|----|------|----|----|------|------|----|------|------|----|
| 3 1                    | D&N Haveli and Daman& Diu+ | 0   | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0    | 0  | 0  | 0    | 0  | 0  | 0    | 0    | 0  | 0    | 0    | 0  |
| 3 2                    | Delhi                      | 1   | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 1    | 0  | 0  | 0    | 0  | 0  | 1    | 0    | 0  | 0    | 0    | 0  |
| 3 3                    | Jammu& Kashmir*            | 0   | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0    | 0  | 0  | 0    | 0  | 0  | 0    | 0    | 0  | 0    | 0    | 0  |
| 3 4                    | Ladakh                     | -   | -  | -  | -  | -  | -  | -    | -  | -  | -    | -  | -  | 0    | 0    | 0  | 0    | 0    | 0  |
| 3 5                    | Lakshadweep                | 0   | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0    | 0  | 0  | 0    | 0  | 0  | 0    | 0    | 0  | 0    | 0    | 0  |
| 3 6                    | Puducherry                 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0    | 0  | 0  | 0    | 0  | 0  | 0    | 0    | 0  | 0    | 0    | 0  |
|                        | TOTAL UT(S)                | 2   | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 1    | 0  | 0  | 0    | 0  | 0  | 3    | 2    | 0  | 0    | 2    | 0  |
|                        | TOTAL (ALL INDIA)          | 4 4 | 22 | 1  | 36 | 26 | 1  | 10 3 | 58 | 2  | 10 4 | 86 | 4  | 73 8 | 27 2 | 0  | 37 2 | 38 3 | 0  |
| Source: Crime in India | Source: Crime in India     |     |    |    |    |    |    |      |    |    |      |    |    |      |      |    |      |      |    |