Cyber Crimes Against Children

The world is getting closer as daily web usage increases. The world wide web may seem like a significant advancement, but unexpectedly, one of its benefits is that it makes the world closer for its users, making it a smaller place to live. But one of its drawbacks is Cybercrime. 
Cybercrime is any illicit activity that uses a computer as a tool or a target. The problem with Cybercrime is that it is expanding steadily, and many people have fallen victim to fraud, malicious software, hacking, and other forms of Cybercrime. Some people misuse computers and the internet to commit crimes such as web hacking, email bombing, cyber stalking, and cyberpornography.

Internet Crimes Against Children:

In addition to these crimes, criminals also engage in child abuse online, other types of cybercrime such as child exploitation, cyberbullying, possession of child pornography, exposure to harmful content, and many more. Also, it has been observed that young children or teenagers are the primary and easy targets for criminal activity as they are trusting, naive, adventurous, and eager for attention and affection. For instance, the predator might approach a young individual online and form an online friendship based on the same likes, interests, and activities. Gifts and photos could be exchanged as a result of this. The predator tries to gain the child’s trust to get what they want from the child. And this is why the government is dedicated to laws, initiatives, and policies to ensure all Indians always have access to an open, trusted, and accountable internet.

According to the NCRB data, the top five states reporting cyber crimes against children are Uttar Pradesh (170), Karnataka (144), Maharashtra (137), Kerala (107), and Odisha (71),

Steps Taken By Indian Government And NCRB:

• In its magazine “Crime in India“, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) collects and broadcasts statistical information on crimes. The 2020 report is the most recent to be made public. A total of 305 and 1102 cases of cybercrime against children were reported in 2019 and 2020.  
• According to the Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution, “Police” and “Public Order” are state matters. Through their Law Enforcement Agencies, States and Union Territories (UTs) are mainly in charge of reducing, detecting, investigating, and punishing crimes, including cybercrime (LEAs). These LEAs prosecute offenders under the law’s provisions.
• The Central Government supported the efforts of the State Government by providing guidance and financial support through various schemes for their capacity building. 
• To take necessary steps to stop the problem and ensure the safety and security of women and young children using online platforms, the Ministry of Women and Child Development raised the issue with the Ministries of Home Affairs (MHA), Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), and Education.
• The Ministry of Education was asked to give the necessary instruction to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for including appropriate cyber safety content in the school curriculum of children and advised the State Governments to do the same through their School Boards to empower children in navigating the online world with proper security.

Measures And Initiatives Taken Against Cybercrime:

1. The Information Technology (IT) Act,2000 Section  67B imposes severe penalties for publishing, transferring, or accessing internet content containing child sexual abuse.
2. According to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, users of intermediaries are given more control over their safety, and social media platforms are held responsible. These rules mandate the intermediaries adopt a strong grievance redressal procedure, including the timely resolution of the grievance. The intermediaries must notify people of their terms and conditions, which must include a warning not to host, display, upload, change, publish, transmit, update, or share any information that is, among other things, harmful, defamatory, obscene, invades another’s privacy, harms children in any way, or is otherwise illegal.
3. To give LEAs structure and ecosystem for fighting cybercrimes in a thorough and coordinated manner, the government established the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (14C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
4. On August 18, 2017, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) released school rules about using the internet safely and securely. This circular instructs schools to create comprehensive security policies and install efficient firewalls, filtering, and monitoring software mechanisms on every computer.
5. As an aspect of the project, a National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in) has been established to help the public to report instances of cybercrime, with a particular emphasis on cybercrime against children and women.
6.  The conceptualization of the toll-free number 1930 (formerly 155260) for helping with filing online cyber complaints. As per the information provided by the applicant in the incident report, incidents reported on the national Cyber Crime Reporting Portal are immediately forwarded to the relevant states for further treatment.
7. MHA has taken several actions to raise awareness of Cybercrime, including distributing messages via the Twitter account @cyberdost, radio campaigns, and publishing a Handbook for Adolescents/Students.
8. The Department has asked all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) of Telecommunications to put in place the necessary measures to inform their users about the usage of parental control filters in end-user computers through emails, bills, SMS, Websites, and other means.

Policy Of Protection Of Children From Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO):

Effective measures to stop child abuse are included in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act. The Act mandates reporting, including kid-friendly tools for capturing testimony and evidence, and ensures that cases are heard fast. It provides a strict legal framework for protecting children from sexual offenses while preserving the best interests of the kid throughout the whole legal process. It includes a child-friendly system for recording evidence, conducting investigations, and expediting criminal cases via specified Special Courts. Additionally, it contains the legal framework for combating cybercrime, such as child pornography, adultery, cyberstalking, cyberbullying, defamation against children, sexual harassment, grooming, hacking, identity theft, child trafficking online, online extortion, and violation of privacy.

Legal Toolkit for Investigators:

Monitoring the application of the POCSO Act is the responsibility of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). A variety of actions have been taken by the Commission to safeguard the kids against sexual abuse. A POCSO E-button has been created as a ground-breaking project to make it easier for kids to report incidences of sexual abuse to the Commission online.
Another important step made by this Commission is the creation of a “Legal Toolkit for Investigators.” The Handbook is anticipated to be a helpful resource for better understanding the virtual world of crime and its impact on the real world by demystifying cybercrime-related regulations in plain language.