Home / Advisory / Amendments to Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) and Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) on the way to cater for stringent laws against child abuse and child pornography

Amendments to Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) and Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) on the way to cater for stringent laws against child abuse and child pornography

Posted on
Amendments to Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) and Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) on the way to cater for stringent laws against child abuse and child pornography.

In one of the best initiatives, a committee of the Indian Rajya Sabha panel headed by Congress parliamentarian Shri Jairam Ramesh, submitted a 40 recommendation report to the Rajya Sabha chairman and Vice President of India Shri M Venkaiah Naidu recently.

The report is said to be exhaustive and has also shown concern on the prevalence of the horrific social evil to children and also the rapid abuse to a child through child pornography. The committee has recommended important amendments to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) and the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) besides technological, institutional, social and educational measures and state-level initiatives to address the issues. The changes to POCSO and IT Act will also entail changes to the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The salient points in the report include:

  • Accountability of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and the regulation of these websites and traffic related to Child Abuse and Child Porngraphy.
  • Controlling access for children to such objectionable content.
  • Intermediaries shall also be responsible to report to the designated authority, IP addresses/identities of all those searching/accessing child porn/ Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) key words.
  • Law-enforcement agencies be permitted to interpret end-to-end encryption to trace distributors of child pornography.
  • Providing for punitive measures for those providing pornographic access to children and also those who accessed, produced or transmitted CSAM.
  • National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) would be designated as the National Portal for reporting of such crime under POCSO Act in case of electronic material.
  • Central Government empowerment through its designated authority to block and/or prohibit all websites/intermediaries that carry child sexual abuse material.
  • Enabling effective action by governments and authorised agencies to take necessary preventive and penal measures.
  • Provision of Apps that help in monitoring children’s access to pornographic content would be made mandatory on all devices sold in India. Such apps or similar solutions would be developed and made freely available to ISP, companies, schools and parents.
  • Social Media monitoring and control measures when it comes to Child Abuse and Child Pornography.

The responsibility to ensure safety should be vested on all stake holders to include: The Parent, The Teachers, The School, The ISPs, The Service Providers and also of the Government when the welfare of a Child is concerned. The implementation of these measures, post the passing of such regulations, is most important. India will be among the few countries of the world to cater for such stringent laws concerning Children after the essential amendments are made based on the recommends by the panel.

Top
%d bloggers like this: