What is the present scenario in india?

 India is the one of the child populated countries in the world, upto 42% of the population is under 18 years of age. So the online protection of children is one of the major issues in India.

A greater number of child molesters are now using computer technology to organize, maintain, and increase the size of their child pornography collections. Personally‐manufactured illegal images of children are especially valuable on the Internet, and oftentimes molesters will trade images of their sexual exploits. When these images reach cyberspace, they are irretrievable and can continue to circulate forever; thus, the child is revictimized as the images are viewed again and again.

The Internet has created an exciting, new world of information and communication for anyone with access to online services. While this technology offers unparalleled opportunities for children and adults to learn about the universe in which we live, it has also had an immeasurable impact on the sexual exploitation of children, specifically through the distribution of sexually exploitive images of children.

The the rapid growth of the internet and technology has resulted in the rise and availability of child pornography in India. In light of these technological advancements and otherwise, the Indian Government has enacted various reforms to strengthen the legal frameworks.

Sexual abuse among children in India has grown rampantly over the years, and a recent report by the Ministry of Women and Child Development stating that more than 50% of children have been abused comes as an eye-opener. Sexual abuse of children has not been a new phenomenon, but has prevailed in society for a very long time. However, the attempts to check this phenomenon have been minimal, leading to a rise in child sexual abuse.

India had blocked around 857 pornographic websites in 2015 because of the concerns about child pornography. This particular decision was taken under the Information Technology Act and in consonance with Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India that allows the government to impose restrictions on the grounds of decency and morality. However, this complete ban was later lifted and only implemented to those websites containing child porn. Recently, again with the Department of Telecom has banned 827 sites due to illegal content on websites.

The porn industry has been highly lucrative these days and is spreading across the globe in an exceedingly coordinated manner. It is a multi-million-dollar industry that has made young children its most vulnerable victims. According to market figures from the National Center for Sexual Abuse, child pornography is one of the fastest growing online businesses and India is among its biggest consumers and contributors.

‘ In India, a pornographic video is captured every 40 seconds, about 38 percent of which are linked to child sexual abuse.’

The director of the Indian Cyber Army stated that, around 25% of all the search engine queries in India are related to child pornography. A recent study by the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Indian National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) found that more than 25,000 pieces of alleged child sexual abuse content have been uploaded to social media platforms in India in 2020.

Section 293 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 specifically criminalizes the sale, distribution, exhibition, circulation, etc. of any obscene material to any person below the age of twenty years. It considers such acts to be cognizable offences.

The Information and Technology Act, 2000 ( “IT Act”) is the base of cyber laws in India. While it was being amended in 2008 to expand its range, both the Standing Committee and the Expert Committee to the Information and Technology (Amendment) Bill recommended for the incorporation of a specific provision dealing with the criminalization of child pornography. The recommendation manifested in the form of insertion of Section 67B to IT Act, which criminalized child pornography. For “first time offenders”, it provides imprisonment for a term of five years and a fine of ten lakh rupees and for “subsequent offenders”, the term of imprisonment is seven years along with a fine of ten lakh rupees. Also, under the IT Act, the storage and consumption of adult porn is not criminalized but the storage and consumption of child porn is criminalized.

During the global pandemic hour and countries being in lockdown, people including both children and adults are spending more time online and excessive using the internet. Resultantly, causing increase in production and distribution of child sexual abuse material due to excessive use by perpetrators, adversely targeting children using the internet. 

'Consumption of child pornography content in India has spiked by 95 per cent in lockdown, According to ICPF.' 

According to a report by an NGO India Child Protection Fund (ICPF), the online data monitoring websites are showing an increase in demand for searches like ‘child porn’,’sexy child’ and ‘teen sex videos’.

In Short, The statistics on sex offences against children in India are grim. India is part of agreement to many international instruments and declarations about the rights of children to protection, security, and dignity. India is strengthening its national policy and measures to protect children from these dangerous forms of violence and exploitation. India is also a signatory to the International Conventions on Civil and Political Rights, and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights apply to the human rights of children as much as adults. 

We will go through the changes that goverment of india made in its existing laws to protect children online in our next blog. Thanks for reading our awareness blogs,please dont forget to share this blog series with your friends and family members and help us in this noble cause.