Child Sexual Abuse Material - An Unidentified Issue In The Digital Age
Author: LawSphereX
Category: Technology, Cyber & Privacy
Published:
Updated:
CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE MATERIAL - AN UNIDENTIFIED
ISSUE IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Mr. Swaminathan P.S *1 & Ms. Vaani. P2
ABSTRACT
The reports published by The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health and the University of Edinburgh and China Agricultural University show that children experienced online sexual abuse worldwide. The Internet Watch Foundation showed that there was a significant increase in child sexual abuse material (CSAM), and the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report 2022, provides that cybercrime against children has increased compared to previous years. Further, the report based on the Cyber Crime Prevention against women and children (CCPWC) scheme, highlighted that it was recorded that 1. 94 lakh child pornography incidents in the month of April 2024 has been recorded. The above reports convey that there is an imminent risk that a child is digitally abused and exploited by the AI tools, and they fall into the victim label unknowingly.
Though there was a legal framework to protect the child from abuse, it failed to address issues regarding the Digital Era. This article aims to discuss the existing legal framework to combat the digital child sexual abuse with respect to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and to find out various strategies to overcome the digital child sexual abuse with respect to child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Keywords: Definition for Child, child sexual abuse, child sexual abuse material. 1 The author is as Post graduate student, pursuing LL. M. Taxation law at Government Law College, Coimbatore. 2 The author is a Post graduate student, pursuing LL. M. Taxation law at Government Law College, Coimbatore.
INTRODUCTION
“Children are like buds in a garden and should be carefully and lovingly nurtured, as they are the future of the Nation and the citizens of tomorrow”— Pt. JAWAHAR LAL NEHRU In the era of globalisation, the advancement of science and technology has led to the innovation of Artificial Intelligence, which brought drastic changes in all fields, viz. Education, Scientific Research including processing of raster Data. While exploring globally, it is known that most of the population all over the world tends to use Artificial Intelligence (Hereafter it is called as AI) for various purposes, such as education, scientific research and even in image processing. Though it has positive feedback as time-consuming, fast processing, and timely resolving and delivering the products, it also has its own demerits.
Especially when it comes to the children, who unknowingly fall victim to AI, resulting in child abuse material. The children are tomorrow's citizens of a country and the future of a nation are trapped in the viscous web, and they are abused digitally and exploited sexually, which results in losing their rights, both natural rights and rights provided by the law, safety in terms of mental health and well-being. It is well known that the responsibility to protect is that states have to protect and safeguard the rights of citizens and ensure their rights are to be protected, and in case of any violation, states have to provide the remedy by restoring rights as mentioned earlier. The enactments like the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, aim to provide remedies for child abuse.
But in the contemporary world, increasing number of cases of cyber bullying, cyber stalking and online child trafficking that’s is “According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report 2022, provides that cyber crime against the child are increased compared to previous years. Further, report based on the Cyber Crime Prevention against women and children (CCPWC) scheme, highlighted that it was recorded that 1. 94 lakh child pornography incidents in the month of April 2024 (Shivang Tripathi, 2025)” which eventually raises a questions to the legislators that above mentioned legislative enactments are really fulfill aim and safeguarding the children from becoming a victim to digital abuse.
The article aims to discuss the existing legal framework to combat digital child sexual abuse with respect to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and to find out various strategies to overcome digital child sexual abuse with respect to child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
LITERATURE REVIEW
There are many studies dealt about the child sexual abuse with respect to the digital era and most of the reviews are related to challenges faced by innovation of AI. In this section, the authors of the research allow the paper findings and the existing previous literature review to conclude it. The importance literature related to child sexual abuse and AI are reviewed: In this paper, the author stated that “Like many countries, India is the most secure and protective country in the world. Also have largest child population in the world. In India, children in the country are protected, and safeguards are provided by the introduction of various acts and legislations, policies, amendments and rights are provided by the Constitution of India. But still, there is the occurrence of sexual trafficking and child pornography.
The author had focused on the classification of abuses as physical abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse and their impact on the child. Further, highlighted that even though there was an policies, but still was an happening of abuse against the children and concluded that standard act has to be proposed to cover all issues in the country”3 (CVML RISHITA, 2022). Generally, animation attracts all age groups, not only the present, but also in the past. In the past, it was used only for entertainment purposes. But, now in the contemporary world, it is used for educational purposes in all areas, explaining the automation process in an easy manner. In recent days the depiction of child pornography in animated forms raising issues.
In this paper (Divishyaa T, 2023), the author discusses explicitly about child sexual abuse material, which is depicted in the graphical and animated versions of child pornography and highlights new emerging issues, virtual pornography. Further, the author stated that development in computer modelling and online environments abuses and distributes realistic virtual representations of child sexual abuse, causing distress among children and depriving them of their rights. It is a well-known general principle, that is in order to punish for a crime, there must a criminal intent, but in child sexual abuse material cases, involve of virtual world, it is difficult to prove a such crime, highlights that existing legal framework laws are not specific to reporting, and curbing such materials.
It is in the hands of law enforcement agencies to combat the problem internally 3 CVML Rishita,(2022) ‘A Detailed Study on Child Abuse in India’, International Journal of Law Management & Humanitie, 5(1) (2022) [online]. Available at: https://ijlmh. com/paper/a-detailed-study-on-child-abuse-inindia/ (Accessed: 13August 2025) and in cooperation with international agencies4 (Divishyaa T, 2023). Further in this paper, the author explains about “Advantages of usage of the internet, especially for kids, make opportunities to learn to access the information on the World Wide Web and connect with others. Besides its advantages, it also has serious dangers, such as child abuse online and exploitation, and the risk of trafficking. The author has evaluated the present legislation (i. e.
, Information Technology Act, 2000, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 how far it protects and safeguards the children’s rights. Also pointed out that in the present law has backlogs to protecting the child from the rapid development of digital advancement and technologies like cyberbullying and extortion. The author had concluded that present act have to updated for the prevailing conditions in the society and also highlighted the importance of social responsibilities for the private sector entities and the importance of stronger cooperation of the law enforcement agencies and along with the awareness of parents to tackle the issues. The author recommends that the legal policy be enhanced to tackle the challenges and issues”5 (Aadhavan V, 2024).
The children are the future, and it is the duty of society to provide care during their developmental years. But in reality, they fall into vulnerable groups due to various forms of abuse. Though the Government of India enacted legislations like the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012, that impose punishments, prevailing conditions in the society show that there was a lacuna at both the domestic and international levels. As a result the government is modifying the act to bring the effectiveness. The author had primarily focused on the harmful effects of child pornography worldwide and concluded that it is most important to keep children safe from internet traps, such as abuse and pornography and also pointed out that legislation has failed to address it.
Major issues are jurisdiction where the information distributed is not limited to the national borders and the present laws are not applied properly. There is a need of legislation and executed by the competent authority”6 4 Divishyaa T (2023), ‘Child Pronography and Computer- Generated content under Indian Laws’ , Jus Corpus Law Journal, 3(2), p1154-1164 [online]. Available at : https://www. juscorpus. com/wpcontent/uploads/2023/02/220. -Divishyaa. pdf (Accessed: 14 August 2025) 5 Aadhavan V, K. T. , (2024), ‘Legal Frameworks and Policy Gaps in Protecting Children from Online Exploitation in India: Challenges and Solutions’ International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research (IJFMR), 6(6), p. 1-13 [online]. Available at : https://www. ijfmr. com/papers/2024/6/31363. pdf (Accessed: 14 August 2025).
6 Shetty, Sameeksha, (2025), ‘ Digital Predators: The Legal Landscape of Child Pornography in India’SSRN, p1- 19 [online]. Available at SSRN: https://papers. ssrn. com/sol3/papers. cfm? abstract_id=5051692 (Accessed: 14 August 2025).
(Shetty, 2025) In this paper, the author stated that “In today’s modern world, due to technological advancements, and the COVID-19 pandemic acts as a catalyst among youngsters, regarding the usage of the internet. In this author highlighted that existing legal frameworks in India and compare with other countries with respect to protection of child from digital victims that is child abuse, exploit digitally due to innovation of AI and recommends that mandatory reporting online child sexual abuse, negligence due to internet service providers (ISPs), and further concluded that there must need of update in existing legal frame work, raising awareness to the society and implement effective way to safeguard their well being, which symbolizes a miles to go”7 (Daniel Manoj, 2025).
OBJECTIVE
OF THE RESEARCH STUDY The main objectives of the research studies are as follows: to study the existing legal framework with respect to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and to find out strategies to overcome child sexual abuse with respect to Child sexual abuse material (CSAM). DEFINITION OF CHILD AND CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE As per the Article 1 of the convention on the rights of the child it says that “A child means every human being who are less than the age of 18 years, unless the law applicable to the child where ever the majority is attained” (UN General Assembly, 1989) and The existing legal framework of India defines child as, “child means any person below the age of 18 year”8 and “Child means that who is not completed 18 years age”9.
World Health Organization refers child abuse as “The abuse and neglect of any person under the age of 18 which includes all forms of abuse not only physical and also emotional mistreatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, which results in harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power” (Gauthier Pichevin, n. d. ). 7 Daneil Manoj, (2025) ‘Behind the screens: Understanding the gaps in India’s fight against online child sexual abuse and exploitation’, Child Protection and Practice,4(2025) [online]. Available at: https://www. sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S2950193824000883 (Accessed: 14 August 2025)
8 Section 2 (d) of the Protection of Children from Sexual offences Act, 2012.
9 Section 2 sub clause (12) of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.
Child sexual abuse is “The involvement of a child in a sexual activity that the child does not fully comprehend, who is unable to give informed consent or the child is not fully developed, prepared to give consent, and violates the law or social taboos of society. It is the activity between the child and an adult, or another child who holds the position of responsibility, trust or power and the activity is being intended to gratify or satisfy the needs of another person, includes the Child sexual abuse not limited to the engagement of the child in the unlawful sexual activity, over use of child for prostitution or any other unlawful activity and use a child as material in the pornographic performance”10. (WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO), 2003).
MEANING OF DIGITAL CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
The term digital child sexual abuse implies the online child sexual abuse, where it means that “it is a type of sexual harassment, exploitation or abuse takes place through screens” (National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 2025). There are various forms of digital child sexual abuse, including sending unwanted messages which are indecent or obscene, hateful comments, sharing private images or videos without the consent of everyone and sharing the adult content in the internet where everyone is not consent to view it and finally grooming the children to enable their sexual abuse either online or offline. Here, the term digital and online, which underscores due to the development of internet technology, sexual abuse is evolving into new forms.
Online child sexual exploitation aggravates the existing forms of harassment, abuse through the creation and distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
LEGAL FRAMEWORK
WITH RESPECT TO CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE MATERIAL (CSAM) IN INDIA The author of the reseedarch had analysis the existing legal framework with the child sexual abuse material. Before exploring child sexual abuse material, it is essential to understand sexual exploiation and abuse, sexual harassment. SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE, SEXUAL HARASSMENT Defining sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment where “Sexual abuse means that
10 WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO), 2., 2003. Guidelines for medico-legal care for victims of
Sexualviolence. [Online] Available at: https://iris. who. int/bitstream/handle/10665/42788/924154628X. pdf (Accessed: 14 August 2025) actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, by a force or under unequal or coercive conditions. Any sexual activity with children under the age of 18 years constitutes sexual abuse. Sexual exploitation, in simple words, is actual or makes an attempt to abuse the position, vulnerability, differential power or trust for sexual purposes, including for monetary profit, socially or politically, from the sexual exploitation of another, also includes the employment, goods or services for sex. This also includes transactional sex irrespective of the legal status of sex work in that country.
It includes any situation where sex is coerced or demanded by withholding or threatening to withhold goods or services or by blackmailing”11 (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 2008). The child sexual abuse material (CSAM) refers to “any visual, including any text, photography, image or any video content that depicts or involves the sexual abuse of children or exploits children. CSAM includes texts, drawings, images, audios, videos and even digitally created and manipulated images, videos. The traditional CSAM where the actual children are the victim, but in the Virtual CSAM or AI -driven CSAM, the victims are unknown (i. e. , actual children are manipulated, and images are generated or entirely fictional situations with fictional characters. Here, the virtual CSAM is further divided into two types, AI- generated CSAM and AI-manipulated CSAM.
The AI-generated CSAM means texts, drawings, images, audios, videos are new created and AI-manipulated CSAM whereas texts, drawings, images, audios, videos are altered from the original one to exploit sexually. The legal definition for the CSAM differs from country to country” (Katalin Parti, 2024). The author of the research had explored the legislative enactments viz. The Indian Penal Code, 1860, The Bharatiya Naya Sanhita, 2023, The Information Technology Act, 2000 (hereafter it is referred as IT Act, 2000), The Protection of Child from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (hereafter it is referred as POCSO Act, 2012) and The Protection of Child from Sexual Offences (amendment) Act, 2019 (hereafter it is referred as POCSO Act, 2019).
THE INDIAN PENAL CODE, 1860 The Indian Penal code, 1860 designed to protect the children from the sexual abuses and distribution of obscene goods to the young persons, “whoever sells, hire, distributes, exhibits or circulates the obscene objects to the young person, that is the age of twenty years shall be
11 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 2008. United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees. [Online] Available at: https://www. unhcr. org/in/what-we-do/protect-human-rights/tackling-sexualexploitation-abuse-and-harassment/defining-(Accessed: 14 August 2025) punished and face a sentence of up to 3 years and fine of up to 2000 rupees for first conviction, if it is second or subsequent time means then, sentence of up to 7 years and fine of up to 5000 rupees”12 (Vibhute, 2012).
THE BHARATIYA NAYA SANHITA, 2023 The Bharatiya Nayaya Sanhita, 2023, also designed to protect children from the sexual abuses and distribution of obscene goods to the child, “whoever sells, hire, distributes, exhibits or circulates the obscene objects to the child as referred in the section 294, that is any person below the age of eighteen years shall be punished and face a sentence of up to 3 years and fine of up to 2000 rupees for first conviction, if it is second or subsequent time means then, sentence of up to 7 years and fine of up to 5000 rupees”13 (The Bharathiya Nayaya Sanhita, 2023). THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACT, 2000 The advancement of science and technology, to regulate the electronic and digital actions in the country the legislators had enacted the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The aim of the act is to provide a legal environment for all digital documents and other electronic activities, legally regulated and protected. The Information Technology Act, 2000 has the provisions of the cyber laws. Section 67A deals with punishments for publishing or transmitting material containing sexually explicit content, Section 67B deals with punishments for publishing or transmitting material depicting children sexually explicit content, Section 67C deals with preservation and retention of information from intermediaries. Child pornography is only dealt by the Section 67B.
“The perpetrators shall be punished for the publishing or transmitting of material which depicting children in sexually explicitly act in the electronic form, which includes the depicting children in sexually explicit or conduct by publishing or transmitting any electronic form, creating text or any digital images or advertisements, promotes, exchanges or distributing material depicting children in obscene or indecent, induces the children to online relationship for sexually explicitly, abusing the children, and records in any electronic form for own abuse. Here, the term children means a person who has not completed the age of 18 years. The penalty for first conviction with
12 Section 293 of The Indian Penal code, 1860.
13 Section 295 of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 5 years and with fine which may extend to 10 lakh rupees and in the subsequent event the conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 7 years and also with fine which may extend to 10 lakh rupees. Further, the Section 67 and 67A is not for publication which is used for public good, interest of science, literature, art or learning or general concern or bona fide heritage or religious purpose” (The Information Technology Act, n. d. ). THE PROTECTION OF CHILD FROM SEXUAL OFFENCES ACT, 2012 By exploring the various provisions of the POCSO Act, 2012 (i. e. , Use of Child for pornographic purposes under Section 13, Punishment for usage of child for pornographic purposes under Section 14 and Punishment for storage of pornographic material which involves the child under Section 15.
It is clearly known those children which are used for pornography are punished under this Act. THE PROTECTION OF CHILD FROM SEXUAL OFFENCES (AMENDMENT) ACT, The term child pornography means “any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a child which includes photography, video, digital generated image or computer generated image which is difficult to distinguishable from an actual child and images created, adapted, or modified, which is appear to depict as a child (. i. e. ) indistinguishable from an original child and image created, modified one but it is still appear as original one”14 (The protection of children from sexual offences (Amendment)act, 2019). The definition includes which implicitly highlights the CSAM, and the term digital-generated image or computer-generated image underscores the AI- generated CSAM and AI-manipulated CSAM.
From the analysis of the legislations, The Indian Penal Code, 1860, The Bharatiya Naya Sanhita, 2023, The Information Technology Act, 2000 (hereafter it is referred as IT Act, 2000),The Protection of Child from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (hereafter it is referred as POCSO Act, 2012) and The Protection of Child from Sexual Offences (amendment) Act,
2019 (hereafter it is referred as POCSO Act, 2019).
14 Section 2(1)(da) of the Protection of Child from Sexual Offences (amendment) Act, 2019.
The author had found that Section 293 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 covers young persons, and Section 295 of the Bharatiya Nayaya Sanhita, 2023 covers children. Further, the term any digital images in Section 67B of the IT Act, 2000 and digital-generated image or computergenerated image in the Section 2(1) (da), which impliedly connotes the digital sexual abuse material or CSAM and the term digital-generated image or computer-generated image underscore the AI- generated CSAM and AI-manipulated CSAM. JUDICIAL DECISIONS In the case of Avinsah Bajaj V.
State 15, The court determined “there was a lacuna in the legislation to address the problem of controlling of the internet use to prevent the spread of the pornographic content and held that it may be instructive to examine legislative responses in other common law jurisdictions for example, in the United states, there are three legislations which had monitored the content of the internet censorship, the Communications Decency Act established as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Child Internet Protection Act
1998 and the Child Internet Protection Act 2003.” In this case law Kamlesh Vaswani Vs.
Union of India16, the petitioner sought a complete ban on pornography. In the case of Aveek sarkar V. State of West Bengal17, the court laid down that “obscenity is determined by based community standard test, rather than the Hicklin test. The court in judgment highlighted that a bare reading of Section 292(1) will be deemed to be obscene. If it is lascivious, appeals to the prurient interest and corrupt or likely to corrupt the reading minds. Further, the court ruled that a photograph that only conveys the social image is not an obscenity under Section 292 of the IPC. In this case law, Shreya Singhal Vs. Union of India 18, While interpretation the Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the court concluded “That intermediary should remove or disable the content after receiving the knowledge from the court order or by the government order.
Here, it is clearly shows that intermediary are not responsible for the action done by the third parties whose data are hosted” In the case S. Harish V. Inspector of Police 19, The Madras High Court has held that “downloading the child pornography was not an offence under the Section 67B of the IT Act”, 2000. But the Supreme Court in the case of Just Rights for Children Alliance v. S. Harish 20, held the viewing, possession and storage of
15 (2005) 116 DLT 427
16 (2013) WP (C) 177
17 2014 INSC 75
18 (2013) 12 S.C.C. 73
19 S.Harish V. Inspector of Police (2024)
20 [2024] 10 S.C.R. 154 : 2024 INSC 716
material which depicting the minor is the offence under the POCSO Act 2012 and also recommended parliament to amend the term child pornography to the child sexual exploitation and abuse material.
FINDINGS
AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
FROM THE RESEARCH
ANALYSIS
The author of the research by analysis the legislative enactments, and the judicial decisions, and report of the international institutions and the author of the research had found that there was gap regarding to overcome the CSAM and suggested some recommendations to strengthen the current legal framework in order to safe guard the children rights and strategies to overcome the child sexual abuse with respect to Child sexual abuse material (CSAM). GAPS IN THE LEGISLATIONS AND PRESENCE OF GLOBAL DISPARITIES In general, the terms pornography and child pornography are defined. The term computer generated images are impliedly connotes. So in order to prevent the child from the sexual abuse material, the lacuna in the legislation must be addressed. Further, First Presence global disparities to deal the CSAM are the first challenge in the combat of CSAM.
Various jurisdictions of law handle the child sexual abuse in different forms. This global uncertainty regarding the CSAM makes difficult to identify the content. There is a need for a standardised procedure both internationally and nationally.
KEY
RECOMMENDATIONS
AWARNESS AND EDUCATION AMONG THE CHILDREN The first foremost is providing the awareness and educations among the children regarding the CSAM, The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights provided the manual on safety and security on children, which “educate the children regarding the online child sexual abuse material and also advises to school to report if there is any occurrence of violations of cyber security and child sexual abuse material”21 (National Human Rights Commission, 2023).
21 National Human Rights Commission, 2023. Advisory for Protection of the Rights of Children against
Production, Distribution and Consumption of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), [online], Available at:https://nhrc. nic. in/sites/default/files/Advisory%20on%20CSAM_Oct2023. pdf (Accessed: 14 August 2025) AMENDMENT IN THE EXISTING FRAMEWORK The term “child pornography in Section 2(1)(da) of the POCSO Act, 2012 has to be replaced with child sexual abuse, exploitative and abuse material. The term sexually explicit " needs to be defined in Section 67B of the IT Act, 2000, to ensure prompt identification of the content and removal of abusive content. In order to remove ambiguity and make it more compliant, the terms Virtual Private Network (VPN), Virtual Private Servers (VPS) and Cloud Service Providers have to be added in Section 2 of the IT Act, 2000.
Further, The Government of India will adopt then UN Draft convention on countering the use of information and communications technology for criminal purposes and lastly while making the Digital India Act, the legislators have to draw inspiration for the U. K’s upcoming legislation to include the provisions for the AI-generated CSAM” (National Human Rights Commission, 2023). INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION Enacting the bilateral and multilateral agreements between the countries will act as a harmonisation of law to combat the CSAM irrespective of different jurisdictions.
“A Memorandum of understanding are to be signed in between National Crimes Record Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs and National Centre for Missing and Exploited children, by this USA will sharing the Tipline reports on online child explicit and child sexual exploitation and share to all states and the union territories” (National Human Rights Commission, 2023). ENABLING PARENTAL CONTROL SYSTEMS AND SHARING OF INFORMATION While using the web browsers, the usage of parental control and alert pop-up messages prevents the children from displaying CSAM. Mostly the CSAM are spread through the darkweb, in order to prevent them, the service providers, and intermediaries have to share the information regarding CSAM with the NCRB or any other government authority of India to take legal action.
REGULATION OF THE SERVICES PROVIDERS The service providers and intermediaries who are constantly monitored and regulated by enabling cooperation with companies who are providing the services. By this the CSAM content will removed from the various platforms.
CONCLUSION
Based on the above analysis and aforesaid consideration, the author of the research concluded that CSAM is a global issue and lacuna in the present legal framework have to be revised to combat the rise of CSAM. The author highlights that, in amending multiple laws, the policymaker has to draw inspiration from various countries and based on the Supreme Court judgment of Just Rights for Children Alliance v. S. Harish 22, it is essential to enact a single tailored structure act to address the various procedural issues while addressing the CSAM. It takes an hour to replace the old IT Act and step into the new Digital India Act, which the policymakers have drawn inspiration from the U. K. Legislation bill to address AI-generated CSAM.
To combat online child sexual abuse and protect children from abuse, there is a joint collaboration not only between states, but also between parents, schools, and lawmakers in the digital age. The author suggested that providing awareness about the online risks, and educating them to use the online platforms safely and securely, instilling the ethics and responsibility, implementing parental controls over the gadgets and providing proper training to enforcement agencies and joint cooperation with other countries will prevent such threats. Children are the future of the nation, and their role in nation building is very crucial. The online child abuse is a wake-up call to protect the children, and in order to protect them from such harm, there is a need for a single, comprehensive legal framework.
The proposed Digital India Act will address the issues, secure them by safeguarding their rights.
22 [2024] 10 S.C.R. 154 : 2024 INSC
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