A blueprint for safeguarding children : Valley Vision

Image for representation.
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The historic judgment against the online sexual abuse of children, pronounced by the Supreme Court of India in a petition filed by the Just Rights for Children Alliance, will have a long lasting and global impact on society, crime, and child rights.

In January 2024, the Madras High Court had ruled that “merely” downloading or watching child pornography is not a crime, and quashed a case against a 28-year-old man. How can someone who searches for and watches the rape of a child, thereby creating a demand for child rape, walk free? This ruling not only defeated the spirit of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, but also risked normalising the exploitation of children.

On September 23, the Supreme Court corrected this grave oversight. It was not only just in expanding the understanding and scope of the crime by making downloading and storage of such material an offence, but also mandated a comprehensive framework to combat Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) and placed strict responsibilities on social media intermediaries to comply with Indian law. By shifting the language from child porn to CSEAM, the ruling reframes the issue as a serious crime, rather than an adult indulgence. It further establishes that individuals who search for or download such material create a demand-supply chain that fuels the rape and exploitation of children.

The perpetuity of this crime is alarming, as these images persist online, subjecting children and families to continuous re-victimisation long after the abuse. Even more troubling is that many children are unaware that they have been victimised, as their images are circulated in secrecy.

Measures required

While this mandate is a significant victory, it is just the beginning. To fully realise its impact, the government must implement a comprehensive set of measures to ensure the safety and rehabilitation of children. Current approaches largely focus on punishing those in possession of CSEAM, while the child victims behind these images often remain without support. A globally coordinated, preventive, and protective framework is urgently needed — one that not only targets offenders, but also addresses the ecosystem and the evolving nature of child exploitation.

First, cybercrime should be explicitly defined in Indian laws and CSEAM should be brought within its ambit as an economic and organised crime. Emerging crimes, such as enticement through electronic or digital means, and the resulting trafficking for both forced labour and sexual exploitation need to be explicitly outlawed. The rise of AI-generated child sexual abuse material makes the situation worse as it blurs the line between real and synthetic images, making it difficult for authorities to deliver justice. Legal amendments are required to treat the creation of CSEAM, including AI-generated deep fakes, as equivalent to real child abuse. Without swift action, AI-driven exploitation will pose an even greater threat to children.

Second, social media platforms must be held accountable for reporting CSEAM in real-time to law enforcement. The judgment has mandated that intermediaries report such content to local police and authorities.

Third, India should establish an institutional framework in the form of a forensic lab equipped with cutting-edge technology to respond to the increase in reporting of CSEAM by intermediaries and social media companies. Currently, international agencies, such as Interpol, flag Indian IP addresses to the National Crime Records Bureau, which then passes this information to state authorities. A domestic lab would reduce response time by allowing India to flag suspicious activity locally and share real-time alerts within Indian and foreign authorities.

Fourth, details of individuals prosecuted for searching or downloading CSEAM should be entered into the National Database on Sexual Offenders and barred from employment in sectors involving children.

EDITORIAL | It is an offence: On Supreme Court clarification on online content on child sex abuse

A border-less response

Most importantly, a border-less crime requires a border-less response. The United Nations Summit of the Future 2024 missed a critical opportunity to address emerging crimes against children. CSEAM is a multibillion-dollar global industry, accelerated by technological advancements. The world must unite to end this crime. To combat CSEAM effectively, we need a legally binding international convention.

By streamlining cooperation between law enforcement, governments, and stakeholders, we can enable targeted interventions to dismantle these networks and protect vulnerable children. Establishing an International Database of Sex Offenders could be a critical step in this direction. Financial institutions also play a crucial role in tracking and disrupting the money trails sustaining these networks. Without coordinated global action and financial accountability, dismantling these systems will remain elusive. Therefore, an international convention binding state and non-state actors is imperative to ensure coordinated response against the economics of this crime, and for identification of perpetrators, their networks, and for rehabilitation of child victims.

This is a watershed moment, offering a blueprint for how nations can take bold and decisive action to safeguard children. When fully implemented, it has the potential to not only transform India’s approach but also set a powerful global precedent in the fight against child exploitation.