Are we keeping a watch on online child sex abuse?
What’s the root cause?
It’s not uncommon for young Indonesian girls to be forced into this horrific act of mankind. This poverty stricken nation pushes young children and women into this area, but there are certain social aspects pulling the strings as well: individuals who are in the profession of prostitution and human trafficking often introduce their children and family into child pornography, lurk in the darkest corners of the web, and indulge in sexting. In other parts of the world, online sexual harassment is also a tool for abuse of power, one which forces children to agree to malicious favours in return for better grades, money, or even innocent gifts.
In India, the causes of sexual abuse are deep-rooted: overpopulation, poverty, illiteracy in the rural areas, cultural dictatorship over parenting styles, etc. When it comes to online abuse, it cuts across boundaries and poses newer methods of intrusion: spamming inboxes with links to pornographic content, malicious software that hacks into computers and gains access to cameras, unrestricted access to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) which are often cheap, and a huge appetite for the same content, allowing for trade in the black market/ the dark web. As access to internet is now both easier and cheaper, it comes at a huge moral cost to society. The government and private agencies both have a part to play in regulating the cyber space, as well as protect the well being of the communities.
Why must we stop this?
Well, it’s a bit obvious, isn’t it? The perversion towards exploiting the innocence of young minds to obtain pleasure and monetary benefits out of such acts is a serious threat to the moral fabric of our society. It has a severe impact on children, especially below 12 years of age in a lot of ways:
a. Arrested Development: The sheer trauma that arises out of such experiences causes emotional blockage and an inability to express/get out of the experience the child had to live.
b. Mental Health Issues: A host of issues such as anxiety, depression, anger, cognitive distortions, post-traumatic stress, dissociation, identity disturbance, affect dysregulation, interpersonal problems, substance abuse, self-mutilation, bulimia, unsafe or dysfunctional sexual behavior, somatization, aggression, suicidality, and personality disorders have been observed in sexually abused children and young victims who were continuously exposed to triggering content.
c. Re-victimization: A minor who was abused as a child is highly likely to undergo such horrific experiences as an adult, through unwanted/ non consensual sexual contact, physical abuse, or mental trauma.
d. Fear of retaliation: Young victims are often coerced to continue their engagement online by their perpetrators by threatening to punish or blackmail. In the case of children who are forced to engage in sexual material such as pornography or highly unsafe chatrooms, it is often their guardian/ owner/ even the parent who threatens to abuse them, should they resist. This often results in a lot of pent up aggression and trauma and ultimately goes unreported due to the fear of retaliation.
e. Dip in studies: The academic performance of children often dips since they lose focus, are often scared, and lose touch with their environment. It can also lead to drop-outs in the most extreme cases.
India’s response: Changes and Challenges
In a written response to a question posed in the Rajya Sabha in July last year, the following provisions were made from the government to tackle the issue:
a. A cyber crime reporting portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in) has been launched to induce the public to report complaints around CSAM, child pornography, and sexually explicit content posted online. One can also find a handbook on cyber safety for adolescents, which has been extended to all States and UTs for circulation, since police and public order is a State matter.
b. Several amendments have been made to the Protection of Children from Sexual Crimes (POCSO) Act, 2012 which strengthens the legal actions taken by amping up the provisions for punishable offences and fast-tracking cases to enable speedy justice
c.Additionally, CBI set up a unit named Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (OCSAE) Prevention/Investigation Unit which would operate pan India. Let’s delve a little into this unit.
In October last year, 3 alleged paedophiles were arrested for Online Sex Abuse and Exploitation in Karnataka by the Cyber Crime Unit of the CID, an organisation which was set up only in September of the same year, due to a lack of awareness on case management and an absence of infrastructure. CID enters the picture here, since it has access to an enormous database maintained by Interpol, named International Child Sexual Exploitation database. Or so it claims. On 15th February this year, a man named Hriday Prasad Patel was arrested in Central Mumbai for posting child pornography content on Social Media. The cyber police was able to nab this habitual offender with the help of National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and its collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the US. From these two instances, it is clear that there is a difference in the reliance on data sources across the country, and this boils down to the structural inefficiency of not having a collaboration among ministries to deal with heinous crimes on children. What is even more startling is that no official from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) is even part of the designated task force to take down perpetrators!
Rajya Sabha Committee Observations and Takeaways
An ad-hoc committee chaired by Mr Jairam Ramesh was formed in December last year to study the legal and technological infrastructure governing pornography hosted on social media. Some very interesting and forward looking recommendations were made, such as Meity/ MHA partnerships with block-chain companies to track payments made with cryptocurrencies, partnership with online payment portals and credit card companies to block transactions made on pornographic websites, and family friendly ISPs that automatically block out websites. There were various amendments to both POCSO and IT Act that were proposed to tackle unprecedented challenges posed by social media. In summation, there is still a long way to go for India to emerge victorious out of this battle.
Is it Enough?
Much like the dark web, this topic is a dark and dangerous one, where one can easily get lost! Most of what i’ve written is just scratching the surface of it all. But the most gripping part of all this is the psychological impact on children. Innocent children , who in their formative years are getting sucked into this blackhole. There’s really no coming back to normalcy once someone undergoes this form of abuse. We must increase efforts from all angles to fight this fight; the Ministry of Child and Women Development must increase spending on rehabilitation centres and post traumatic assistance, The Meity must spend more on forensic technology and train existing staff on the latest surveillance technology, and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Technology must offer training program to parents to increase awareness on the hazards of excessive use of internet and social media. Lastly, there’s no weapon like the strong arm of judiciary, which, when propelled effectively and efficiently, can do justice to society.
Sources:
3.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcCj1zNpKoM
4.https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1579351
6.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/Committee_site/Committee_File/ReportFile/71/140/0_2020_2_17.pdf
