Lok Sabha Question No. 3825 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-11
Subject: Online Child Abuse
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Khagen Murmu

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3825

TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.08.2023

## ONLINE CHILD ABUSE

## 3825. SHRI KHAGEN MURMU:

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

- (a) Whether the Government sees merit in employing checks and balances on the use of internet by children to prevent instances of child sexual abuse;
- (b) If so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) Whether the Government has introduced any such guidelines to regulate the usage of internet amongst children in the country;
- (d) If so, the details thereof;
- (e) Whether the Government has explored any other alternatives to address the issue of online child abuse in the country; and
- (f) If so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor along with measures taken/proposed to be taken in this regard?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (f): As per the information received from National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), NCPCR  has developed information, education and communication  (IEC)  material  to  support  the  Centre  and  State  Governments  for dissemination of information and awareness on POCSO Act 2012. The following IEC material is available on the NCPCR's website www.ncpcr.gov.in.

- (i) An easy guide for implementation of the POCSO Act 2012.
- (ii) A Guide for District Administration for Implementation of Juvenile Justice Act 2015 and POCSO Act 2012
- (iii) Child Victims of Cyber Crime - Legal Tool Kit
- (iv) User Handbook on the POCSO Act 2012
- (v) Do's and Don'ts for Stay Safe on Internet

Since March 2020, NCPCR organized different online programs for awareness generation on various aspects of Child sexual abuse and POCSO Act on its official social media  platforms (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube), which are as follows:

- (i) Chairperson, NCPCR conducted a Twitter Chat in collaboration with Cyber Peace Foundation   on the subject of 'Child Online Safety during COVID 19' on 8th April 2020.
- (ii) Webinar  on  Cyber  safety-  Keeping  Children  Safe  Online  (Making  online schooling cyber safe) was organized on 18th May 2020.
- (iii) Webinar on Cyber safety- Keeping Children Safe Online (How can school participate in cyber safety - A whole school approach in cyber safety) was organized on 19th May 2020.
- (iv) Webinar on Cyber safety- Keeping Children Safe Online (Cyber safety at Home) was organized on 20th May 2020.
- (v) Webinar on 'Child Sexual Abuse: Forensic Jurisprudence & Role of Police' was     organized   29th June 2020.
- (vi) Webinar  on  'New  Age  Cyber  Crime  &  Online  Protection  of  Children: Challenges and Solutions' was     organized   23rd September 2020.
- (vii) Informative posters and material on following topics was circulated on social media platforms on 8 June 2020 onwards.
-   Safe Online Learning in Times of COVID -19
-   Cyber Bullying
-   How to stay safe online
-   How to prevent and counter bullying

NCPCR has also  developed  Cyber  Safety  Guidelines  and  included  these  as  a separate section in the 'Manual on Safety and Security of Children in Schools' which was developed in 2017. The updated Manual including the section on Cyber Safety is available on NCPCR's website at the following Link -https://ncpcr.gov.in/uploads/165650391762bc3e6d27f93\_Manual%20on%20Safety% 20and%20Security%20of%20Children%20in%20Schools%20(Sep%202021).pdf

Further,  as  per  the  information  received  from  Ministry  of  Electronics  and Information Technology, the policies of the Government are aimed at ensuring a Safe and Trusted and Accountable Internet for all its users. Publication or transmission of obscene material in electronic form, is cybercrime. The Information Technology Act, 2000 ('IT Act') and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media  Ethics  Code)  Rules,  2021  ('IT  Rules,  2021'),  provides  for  penalty  and punishment for such act and also casts an obligations on the intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, to observe due diligence as per rule 3(1)(b). In case of failure to follow diligence as provided in the IT Rules, 2021, by intermediaries, they shall lose their safe harbour protection under section 79 of the IT Act and shall be liable for consequential action as provided in such law.

The  Information  Technology  Act,  2000  ('IT  Act')  penalises  publishing  or transmission of material containing sexually explicit act in electronic form (section 67A and 67B) and publishing or transmitting of obscene material in electronic form (section 67), and makes them punishable with imprisonment for a period that may extend to three  and  five  years  respectively,  and  as  per  section  77B  such  cybercrimes  are cognizable offences. As per the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, prevention and investigation of cognizable offences is to be done by the police, and as per the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, 'Police' is a State subject. As such, States  are  primarily  responsible  for  the  prevention,  investigation  etc.  of  such cybercrimes through the State police departments, which take preventive and penal action as per law, including in respect of the said cybercrimes pertaining to publishing or  transmitting  of  material  containing  sexually  explicit  act  or  obscene  material  in electronic form.

The  Information  Technology Act, 2000  ('IT Act') and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 ('IT

Rules,  2021'),  together,  have  made  a  framework  which  cast  obligations  on  the intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, to observe due diligence and provide that if they fail to observe such due diligence, they shall no longer be exempt from their liability under law for third-party information or data or communication link hosted by them. Such due diligence includes the following:

- (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 in a timebound manner within 72 hours;
- (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.
- (vi)    In case a significant social media intermediary is providing services primarily in the  nature of  messaging shall enable the identification of the first  originator of the information  on  its  computer  resource  for  the  purposes  of  prevention,  detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of an offence related to rape, sexually explicit materialor child sexual abuse material.

Keeping in view complaints regarding action or inaction, on the part of the social media intermediaries and other intermediaries on user grievances regarding objectionable content or suspension of their accounts, the Central Government has also established three Grievance Appellate Committees (GACs), as provided for in the said  IT  Rules,  2021  to  enable  users  to  appeal  against  the  decisions  taken  by Grievance Officer of intermediaries on user complaints.

In addition, under the Code of Ethics prescribed in the Part III of IT Rules, 2021, publishers of an online content curator are required to classify all content transmitted or published or exhibited by them, based on the nature and type of content, into various rating categories, including content suitable for children, content suitable for persons aged 7 years or 13 years or 16 years and above or persons under the said ages with parental  guidance,  and  to  display  such  classification.  They  are  further  required  to restrict  access  to  certain  curated  content  by  a  child  through  implementation  of appropriate access control measures.

Further, The Government of India (GoI) had enacted Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 to protect the Children from Offences of  Sexual Assault, Sexual harassment and pornography with due regard for safeguarding the interest and well being of children. The Act is gender neutral and defines a child as any person below eighteen years of age. It regards the best interest and welfare of the child as the matter of paramount importance at every stage, to ensure the healthy physical,  emotional,  intellectual  and  social  development  of  the  child.  Mandatory reporting of the crime by any one aware of such crime has also been stipulated under the Act, to challenge the culture of silence often noticed around such crimes.

GoI,  further  made  the  provisions  of  the  Act  stringent  through  amendment  of Section-14,  Section-15  and  introducing  the  definition  of  Child  Pornography  under section-2(da) of the  POCSO Act, 2012 to curb the child pornography and to stop child exploitation. The provisions available under POCSO Act to curb the  child pornography are as follows:- i.) Section-2(da) of the POCSO  Act  explicitly defines the term child pornography -Definition of Child Pornography : ' Child Pornography means any visual  depiction  of  sexually  explicit  conduct  involving  a  child,  which  include photograph, video, digital or computer generated images indistinguishable from an actual child, and image created, adapted, or modified, but appear to depict a child '

ii.)  Section-14 of the Act prescribes  Punishment  for  using  a  child  for pornographic purposes

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'.

Section-14(2)'  whoever  using  a  child  or  children  for  pornographic  purposes under sub-section(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, section-10,  respectively,  in  addition  to  the   punishment  provided  in  subSection(1)'.

iii .) Section  15 of  the  Act  provides  Punishment  for  storage  of  pornographic material involving child. The section which was initially prescribing punishment for commercial use of child pornography, has been expanded to provide graded punishment commensurate with the level of crime.  The amended punishment is as follows:-

Section-15(1)Any person, who stores or possesses  pornographic material in any form involving a child, but fails to delete or destroy or report the same to the designated  authority,  as  may  be  prescribed,  with  an  intention  to share  or transmit child pornography, shall be liable to fine not less than Rs. 5000/-,  and in the event of second or subsequent offence, with fine which shall not be less than Rs. 10,000/-. Section-15(2)Any person, who stores or possesses pornographic material in any  form  involving  a  child  for  transmitting  or  propagating  or  displaying  or distributing in any manner at any time except for the purpose of reporting as may be  prescribed,  or  for  use  as  evidence  in  court,  shall  be  punished  with imprisonment of either description which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both. Section-15(3)Any person, who stores or possesses pornographic material in any form involving a child for commercial purpose shall be punished on the first conviction with imprisonment of either description which shall not be less than three years which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both, and in the event of second  or subsequent  conviction, with imprisonment  of either description which shall not be less than five years which may extend to seven years and shall also liable to be fine.

*****