A Short Note On Lacunae s Laws Protecting Children...

Title of Paper-Lacunae in Laws protecting children against online sexual abuse in India By Karnika Seth, Advocate (BA (Eng Hons), LL.B (D.U), LL.M (King’s College ,U.K) Phd. Research Scholar (NIU) Abstract In the digital age, there has been an unprecedented growth in both the use and dependency on internet, particularly among children populace. Whereas increased use of information technology by children has some positive dimensions, there is a glaring flipside, the concern over growing child abuse cases on the Internet. Reliable statistics point that India is home to 19% of World’s children and the production and distribution of child abuse images has become a rampant problem in India. According to a 2007 study conducted by Ministry of Women and Child Welfare in India, wherein over 12,000 children were studied for child abuse, 4.4% of them were found to have been victims of child pornography. Children face a number of threats in the online world, including cyberbullying, sexual harassment, cyber grooming, sexting, phishing, photo morphing, identity thefts, amongst other cybercrimes. In India, while the Information Technology Act,2000 (IT Act) and the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Act,2012 (POCSO Act)are special legislations that declare certain illegal acts directed at children online as punishable offences, the existing statutes fail to define many of such offences and/or address other emerging cybercrimes targeting children for sexual abuse. For example,