Will the Minister of Electronics & Information Technology be pleased to state:-
(a) the total number of cases of child abuse on the internet reported in the country during each of the last three years, State/UT-wise;
(b) whether the Government has taken any steps to ensure safety of children on the internet; and
(c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?
(a) to (c): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION
NO. *248 FOR 11-03-2020 REGARDING CHILD ABUSE ON INTERNET
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(a): National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs started collecting data for cybercrimes (involving computer as medium/ target) against children since 2017. As per the data maintained by NCRB, a total of 88 and 232 cases of cybercrime against children were registered during the year 2017 and 2018 respectively. This includes cases pertaining to Cyber Blackmailing/Threatening/Harassment, Fake profile, Cyber Pornography, Cyber Stalking etc. Latest data pertains to the year 2018. The details of cases is placed at Annexure.
(b) and (c): Government has taken the several steps to tackle cyber crime against women and children. These, inter alia, include :
(i) The Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 has provisions to deal with cyber crime against children. Section 67B of the Act provides stringent punishment for publishing, browsing or transmitting of material depicting children in sexually explicit act, etc. in electronic form. Further, sections 354A and 354D of Indian Penal Code, 1860 provide punishment for cyber bullying and cyber stalking.
(ii) The Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011 notified under section 79 of the IT Act, specifies that the intermediaries shall inform the users of computer resource not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, update or share any information that is, inter alia, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, harms minor in any way; violates any law for the time being in force; etc.
(iii) Further, section 14 and section 15 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 provide for stringent punishment for using child for pornographic purposes, and for storage of pornographic material involving child respectively.
(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) to work out a suitable arrangement for receiving Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), UK list of CSAM websites/webpages on a dynamic basis and block access to child pornography webpages/websites.
(vi) 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) Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is implementing a comprehensive central sector scheme, namely “Centre for Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children (CCPWC)” to handle all issues related to check all cyber-crime against women and children including child pornography.
(ix) National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, www.cybercrime.gov.in has been launched to enable citizens to online report complaints pertaining to all types of cyber crimes with special focus on cyber crimes against women and children. Complaints reported on this portal are attended by the respective Law Enforcement Authorities of States. A nation-wide helpline number [155260] is also made functional to help public in filing complaints through the portal.
(x) National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has published a booklet on “Child Victims of Cyber Crime – Legal Tool Kit” as a guide for investigating officers for better understanding of the cyber crime related laws in simple language.
(xi) POCSO E-box portal by NCPCR was opened for reporting of cyber crime targeting children and also to handle cyber bullying, cyber stalking, morphing of images and child pornography. The E-Box is also available as mobile app at Google/Apple Play Store.
(xii) Government has finalized a new scheme for setting up of 1023 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs), which include 389 exclusive POCSO Courts, for speedy trial and disposal of cases relating to rape and POCSO Act and in September 2019 has communicated to State Governments and Union Territory administrations to open FTSCs including exclusive POCSO courts. The first instalment of central share of funds has been released to 27 States/UTs for setting up of 649 FTSCs which includes 363 exclusive POCSO courts. As per information received from High Courts, 195 such FTSCs have been established.
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Annexure
Cyber Crimes against Children (State/UT-wise) - In 2017 & 2018
S. No. State /UT Total Cyber crimes against Children 2017 Total Cyber crimes against Children 2018
1 AndhraPradesh 1 12
2 ArunachalPradesh 0 0
3 Assam 1 9
4 Bihar 0 0
5 Chhattisgarh 4 7
6 Goa 2 2
7 Gujarat 4 12
8 Haryana 0 1
9 HimachalPradesh 1 2
10 Jammu&Kashmir 1 0
11 Jharkhand 0 0
12 Karnataka 0 25
13 Kerala 0 25
14 MadhyaPradesh 5 15
15 Maharashtra 27 57
16 Manipur 2 0
17 Meghalaya 0 1
18 Mizoram 0 0
19 Nagaland 0 0
20 Odisha 0 7
21 Punjab 4 5
22 Rajasthan 6 2
23 Sikkim 0 1
24 TamilNadu 3 5
25 Telangana 0 2
26 Tripura 0 1
27 UttarPradesh 3 27
28 Uttarakhand 0 2
29 WestBengal 19 5
TOTAL STATE(S) 83 225
UNION TERRITORIES:
1 A&NIslands 0 1
2 Chandigarh 0 0
3 D&NHaveli 0 0
4 Daman&Diu 0 0
5 Delhi 5 6
6 Lakshadweep 0 0
7 Puducherry 0 0
TOTAL UTs 5 7
Total States And Uts 88 232
Note: based on NCRB Crime Statistics Report 2017 and 2018