Child pornography is multifaceted international concern, and what institutes child pornography is unexpectedly multipart. Even if we confine ourselves, to a legal definition of child pornography, the concept is indefinable. The definition of child pornography differs country wise, UNCRC defines child as a person, under the age of 18 years.

Child Pornography, as per the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the child on the Sale of Children, prostitution and Child Pornography (OHCHR) means Any representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged in real or stimulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child for primarily sexual purposes.

With the introduction of the Internet in 1980s which made vast magnitudes of child pornography instantly obtainable in the privacy of viewer's home. Due to Internet, there has been a comprehensive synopsis of the child pornography as growing menace.

The expansion of the Internet and progressive digital technology lies parallel to the explosion of the child pornography market. Child porn is readily available through virtually every networking or social websites or apps. The digital offenders can also connect on networks or forums, to share their interests, desires, and familiarities abusing children, in addition to selling, sharing and trading images.

The production of child pornography creates an everlasting record of child's sexual abuse. When these obscene images are uploaded on the Internet and disseminated online, the victimization of the children continues in perpetuity. The internet has created an exciting, new world of information and communication for anyone with access to online services, which offers unparalleled opportunities for children, adults to learn about immeasurable impact on the sexual exploitation of the children, specifically through the children's obscene images.

Tracing the past of Child abuse

The delinquency of child abuse is not new-fangled. It has been fashionable, since ancient civilization like Greek, Sumerian, and Mesopotamian. That period, Child abuse' was a social condition, which became social problem through a process of Social Constructionism.

It means, social reactions are fundamental to the process through which a social condition is redefined s social problem. The word Pederasty derives from Greek etymology, meaning sexual relations between men and children. The Oxford English dictionary defines it as Homosexual relations between a man and a child, as a passive partner.

Ancient civilizations such as the Romans, the Greeks and the Samurai warriors all embraced paedophilia. The purpose of the union was to allow young men to form an apprentice-like bond with a warrior and learn from hi everything there was to know about becoming a warrior.

Such relations were social acknowledged romantic relationship between an adult male and child, in ancient Greek civilization. Such child/younger male were called as Eromeus'. The influence of Pederasty on Greek culture was so ubiquitous that it has been called the principal cultural model for free relationships between citizens'. Later on, the Pederasty was both idealized in ancient literature and philosophy.

In Rome, Paiderasteia had been a formal social relationship between male and child or young boy. The concept of Pederasty came to prompt the roles based on domination and exploitation, young children's or boys were often given as Slaves.

In India, the concept of child sexual abuse arrived with the Muslim invaders, whereby the Kings were fond of exploitation or desire from young boys. The Pederasty came into existence, in medieval period, with the advent of Muslim rule, which grew more common with Sultans of Delhi Sultanate, establishing sexual relationship with children's.

The renowned poet Al-biruni said, the pederasty was rare in Hindu society, before the advent of Muslim rule. Mughal King Babur, in his autobiography Baburnama, designates his infatuation with a teenage boy. The noble class were cosseted in Pederasty and Homosexuality, considered as pure love, was customary among those from Central Asia.

The Dutch traveller Johan Stavorinus reported about Male Pederasty among Lodhi dynasty & Mughals. With the advent of European colonialists, the creed of Child abuse was comparatively truncated, as Britishers, took all pre-emptive steps to restrain social stigma's & brutal rituals. But then, with the introduction of Internet, the culprit human mind found out a platform in more profound way, to lure for child porn over the mobiles, or websites.

Research over Child Sexual abuse & obscene display

Child pornography is illegal in most of the countries jurisdictions. The legality of child pornography is explicitly addressed, by United Nations in 2008. The results were alarming, 94 countries had no laws addressing child pornography and in many other countries, the existing laws are inadequate. In a survey by International Centre for missing & exploited children (ICMEC), in collaboration with the Interpol, found that in 138 countries, the child pornography is not a crime.

Surprisingly, just 5 of the countries reviewed have laws considered comprehensive enough to make a significant impact on the crime. They are Australia, Belgium, France, South Africa, and United States.

There were another finding conducted by The Koons family Institute on International law and policy, founded by artist Jeff Koons, found only 27 countries, out of 184 countries had laws sufficient to protect the children from child pornography.

But in later reports of ICMEC, there has been increase in the number of countries that have implemented, new law, which is encouraged. But there are still countries that still do not consider child pornography a crime.

Further, a survey conducted by the parties to the Convention on the Rights of the child, on the sale or prostitution of children, showed that almost half of the parties, describes only general jurisprudential systems of compensation available to all crimes relating to child.

Various agencies like Europol, the United Nations, and End child prostitution and trafficking (ECPAT), have reported that paedophiles and child pornography addicts have been increasing their activities to lure children who are now spending more time online.

A report by International Labour Organisation, says that Cyber trafficking, grooming, to lower the child's inhibitions with the objective of sexual abuse, sex-tortion, sexting, are some of the trends of online crimes against children and vulnerable communities.

The World Health Organisation in its survey, over Child sexual abuse, estimated that 73 million boys and 150 million girls under the age of 18 years had experienced various forms of the sexual violence. The highest prevalent rate of such abuses was seen in Africa, United States, and Asian countries including India.

With regard to India, the alarming rise in the demand of child pornography material has been increasing. Especially with the lock-down phase, there has been a sharp increase, in child porn search. The India Child Protection Fund claimed that online data monitoring websites are showing an increase in demand for child porn searches.

The world's largest pornography websites in the world also reveals that traffic from India has increased by 95 per cent, in the month of March – April, 2020, as compared to their average traffic. Metro cities like New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, and many tier II or capital cities, have been red flagged as hotspots for Child porn.

The ECPAT reports confirm that, children are now more prone to online grooming and sexual coercion. It is reported that, there has been an increase in SOS calls asking for protection from abuse and violence, during the period of the lockdown.

According to the figures from the National Centre for Sexual Abuse, child pornography is one the fastest growing online business. India is among its biggest consumers, contributors. In India, about 38% of website content is linked to child sexual abuse.

National Crime Records Bureau found that more than 25000 pieces of alleged Child porn content have been uploaded to social media platforms in India, over the last 3 months.
In study report by the Indian Council of Medical Research, shows the increasing demand for pornographic content involving violence and torture. 18% individuals exhibited explicit intent for videos where children were choking, bleeding, tortured, or screaming'. The demand for this kind of content grew as much as 100 % during the lock-down phase.

A survey by United Nations International Children Education Fund (UNICEF), on demographic and health was conducted in India, from 2006 to 2014, which reported that 10 per cent of children, boy or girl, have experienced sexual violence when they were 10-14 years of their age.

A study was conducted in 2017, by the Ministry of Women and child development in India, covering many states, reported that about 22% of the children, in India were exposed to extreme forms of sexual abuse.

As per US based private NGO National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), stated that the content of child porn had received a boost in India, since last one year.
The ICPF Spokesperson Nivedita Ahuja, said that there is spike in consumption indicates that a number of pedophiles, child rapists and child pornography addicts have migrated online. This had made the internet an unsafe place for children and it could also result in a “drastic rise” in sexual crimes targeting child.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)- is a private non-profit organization established by the US Congress in 1984 whose mission includes reducing child sexual exploitation and preventing child victimization. It says, over 25,000 cases of suspected child pornography material were uploaded across social media platforms in India in the last five months, according to reports shared by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the US with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). No state wise division was given but it was quoted that around 1,700 cases were passed on to the cyber unit of the state by the NCRB.

The noble laureate, Kailash Satyarthi, remarked that, child pornographic content is a big contributor to global trafficking of children, in the backdrop of growing child porn in India.

Storm: Why Increase during lockdown?

A substantial segment of the spike can be accredited to the demand for child pornography content. This is substantiated by online data monitoring websites during the same time period, which shows that search for keywords like “child porn”, “sexy child and teen sex videos, has also soared, and is predictable to spike further in the coming weeks. The increase has been driven by Pornhub making its premium content free during the lockdown.

The organisations like EUROPOL, THE UN AND ECPAT reports that Covid-19 lockdowns have led to an intensification in the demand for CSAM attempts to target children online to groom them- befriending them on social media, building an emotional connection and luring them to perform sexual activities.

Indian Child Protection Fund launched a study between November - December last year; to understand the landscape of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in India and to deter its demand, the research focused on the demand for child pornography was an average of 5 million per month in 100 cities.

The Reports Concluded that a vast majority of individuals were interested in generic CSAM content involving “school girl's sex” and the demand for content with specific age groups, sexual actions and locations was growing. It is further stated that of the individuals who were interested in specific themes in CSAM, a significant number skewed towards violent content. The demand for this kind of content grew as much as 200% during the project duration. This indicates that Indian men are not satisfied with generic child pornography and demand violent and exploitative content.

Understanding the Child Pornography in law

There are several crucial International Conventions that makes Child Pornography an offence and also makes laws that are legally binding in nature.

The main international legal instruments that address child pornography:

1. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography

   It is the first ever inclusive and legally binding document against sexual exploitation of children and their rights.
   Article 34 of the Convention provides the formulation of national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent;
   
   1. Inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity;
   2. The exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices;
   3. The exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials”.
      Article 39 of the Convention requires the state to provide “recovery” and “reintegration” to child victims of sexual exploitation.
      It also indulges parties to pass laws within their own territories against these practices "punishable by appropriate penalties that take into account their grave nature."
      
      The UN Conventions on the Rights of Child, has been ratified by an overwhelming majority of the nations of the world, identifies child pornography as a violation against children and requires that nations who are parties to the convention take measures to prevent the exploitative use of children in pornographic materials.
      
      India has acceded to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1992, reaffirming its earlier acceptance of the 1959 UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child and is fully committed to the implementation of all provisions of the UNCRC and therefore India has ratified this “Optional protocol” to the convention in 2005.
       

2. The Convention On Cybercrime, 2001 also known as The Budapest convention

   
   It was drawn up by the Council of Europe in 2001, This Convention is the only substantive multilateral agreement with a stated objective of addressing cybercrime with convergent, harmonized legislation and therefore, it is widely recognized as a decisive document on international best practice and enjoys compliance even from non-signatory states. The Budapest Convention is also supplemented by an Additional Protocol to the Convention which further extended the scope of the Convention to also include offences of racist or xenophobic propaganda for those states that had ratified the protocol.
   
   After entering into force India have declined to adopt the Convention contending that they did not participate in its drafting and have been hesitant to ratify it. Since 2018, India has been reconsidering its stand on the Convention after a surge in cybercrime, though concerns about sharing data with foreign agencies remain the concern. Moreover, despite its hesitations to sign the Convention, India has brought its legal framework largely in line with the provisions of the Convention: when India amended its Information Technology Act (IT Act) in 2008, this was one of the big outcomes
    

3. The Council of Europe's Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, 2007

   It is a multilateral Council of Europe treaty whereby states agree to criminalise certain forms of sexual abuse against children and it is the first instrument to establish the various forms of sexual abuse of children as criminal offences, including such abuse committed in the home or family, with the use of force, coercion or threats. The Convention also criminalises the solicitation of children for sexual purposes ("grooming") and "sex tourism". India is not a member though it has been ratified by 47 countries as on May 11, 2020. This convention criminalises the sexual activity with children below the legal age of consent, regardless of the context in which such behaviour occurs; it also mandates the criminalisation of child prostitution and pornography in the States ratified it.

In addition to these instrumental legal conventions, there are countries, who have adopted various Directives or Guidelines, to combat the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography. The directive establishes more explicit guidelines for criminal legislation regarding sexual abuse and exploitation of children.

Indian Legal system's take on Child Pornography as an offence

In contrast to other countries, India is signatory to many international instruments and declarations about the rights of children to protection, security, and dignity. India is strengthening its national policy and measures to protect children from these dangerous forms of violence and exploitation. India is also a signatory to the International Conventions on Civil and Political Rights, and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights apply to the human rights of children as much as adults.

The Indian Constitution provides, Article 21 for the right to life and liberty and Article 24 does not allow children below fourteen years to work in a mine, factory or engage in hazardous employment. As a Directive principle, Article 39(f) makes it obligatory for the State to direct its policy towards securing the health and strength of children and to give them opportunities and facilities to develop healthily and Article 45 provides that the State shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and education to children below the age of six years.

There also exist special laws for crimes against children, such as the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1986, the Child Marriage Restraint Act, the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 and The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, the POCSO Act, 2012, the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Information Technology Act, 2000: Strong Appendage or Inadequate?

The Information Technology Act, 2000 has adequate provisions dealing with Obscenity & Child sexual crimes, with stringent punishments.

The IT Act introduced some protection for the publication and transmission of obscene materials, initially, in 2000. But with the pace of time, requirement and development in law, Information Technology Act, 2000 got amended by virtue of Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 and several new other offences are included along with child pornography' in electronic medium (specifically) and upgraded/modified version of publication of obscene material in cyberspace.

1. Section 66 E

   Violation of privacy- publishing, capturing or transmitting the image of a private area of a person without consent is punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three years or with fine not exceeding two lakh rupees, or with both. Capturing is to videotape, photograph, film or record by any means and private areas is defined as the naked or undergarment clad genitals, pubic area, buttocks or female breast.
    

2. Section 67

   Publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form- Publishing or transmitting any material in the electronic form, which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest or has the effect to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely to have access to the material is punishable on first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years and with fine which may extend to five lakh rupees and in the event of a second or subsequent conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years and also with fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees.
    

3. Section 67 A

   Publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act, in electronic form- publishing or transmitting material containing sexually explicit act in the electronic shall be punished on first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years and with fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees and in the event of second or subsequent conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years and also with fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees.
    

4. Section 67 B

   Publishing or transmitting of material depicting children in sexually explicit act in electronic form- Publishing or transmitting any material which depicts children engaged in sexually explicit act in any electronic form or conduct or creates text or digital images, collects, seeks, browses, downloads, advertises, promotes, exchanges or distributes material depicting children in obscene or indecent or sexually explicit manner or cultivates, entices or induces children to online relationship with one or more children for and on sexually explicit act or in a manner that may offend a reasonable adult or facilitates abusing children online or records in any electronic form own abuse or that of others pertaining to sexually explicit act with children, shall be punished on first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years and with a fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees and in the event of second or subsequent conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years and also with fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees.

Indian Penal Code, 1860; - Obsoleted v. ingenious

Prior to the commencement of Information Technology Act, 2000, the provisions of IPC and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, were used to deal with the issues of pornography and obscenity, that too even when the same was being done or committed in electronic medium.

Relevant provisions in the Indian Penal Code, and Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, were being considered for the visual representations but other electronic materials like audio materials and computer-generated photographs were not specifically included. Further these Acts did not deal with the issue of child sexual abuse and more importantly with child pornography adequately.

Chapter XIV was the only law made for the prosecution of cases in the nature of publication of obscene or pornographic material. The kind of distinction which is made in other legal systems of the world pertaining to obscenity such as: child pornography', extreme-pornography', importation of obscene material, circulation of obscene content, sexual or indecent communication are clubbed in Indian Penal Code.

1. Sale of obscene books, etc:
   the sale, distribution ,import, export, advertisement, circulation or the exhibition of any obscene material is punishable with imprisonment and fine under section 292 but it is not applicable when it is done for public good or when such material is used or kept bona fide for religious purposes.
    
2.  Sale, etc., of obscene objects to young person:
   the sale , distribution, exhibition or circulation of any obscene object to any person under the age of twenty years is punishable on first conviction with imprisonment of three years, and with up to two thousand rupees, and, in the event of a second or subsequent conviction, with imprisonment up to seven years, and also with fine up to five thousand rupees under Section 293.

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offenders Act, 2012-Appropriate enough?

The POCSO Act, 2012 was specifically enacted to prevent children from sexual offences. The act protects children from sexual assault, sexual harassment, and pornography. The act aims to protect the interests and well-being of the children. For the purpose of the act, any person who has not attained the age of 18 years is a child. The Act is gender-neutral.

The provisions relating to Cyber Pornography under the POCSO Act are

1. Section 13 - Whosoever uses a child in any form of media for the sexual gratification shall be guilty of the offence of child pornography.
    
2. Section 14 - The punishment for using a child for pornographic purposes is mentioned with minimum of 5 years imprisonment and maximum to Life Imprisonment for use of a child for the pornographic purpose resulting in aggravated penetrative sexual assault and Death is mentioned in the 2018 Bill.
    
3. Section 15 - If a person stores pornography that involves a child, in any form then he shall be imprisoned to 3 years or fine or both.

In recent development, the government of India, came up with new definition of child pornography in the POSCO Act, which says  any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct having involvement of child which includes photos, videos, digital or computer generated image, indistinguishable from an actual child and an image created, adapted, or modified but appear to depict a child'.

Role of Judiciary to tackle Child Pornography as menace: - Interpretations

1. The landmark case New york v. Ferber, is a precedential decision given by the United States Supreme court, which ruled that its illegal for an individual to promote any performance which includes sexual conduct by a child less than sixteen years of age.
    
2. R. vs. Hicklin,(1868) - The Hicklin's test identifies the danger of prurient literature that it would suggest to the minds of the young of either sex, and even persons of more advanced years, thoughts of a most impure and libidinous character.
    
3. In India, Supreme court had played a decisive role, while dealing with cases relating to child pornography. In Ranjit Udeshi vs. State of Maharashtra, (1965)
   The Supreme Court of India in wherein it was adjudged that Section 292 of IPC is protected 2 by Article 19 (2) of the Indian Constitution on the grounds of public “decency” and “morality”.
    
4. Sharat Babu Digumarti vs. Government of NCT,(2016)
   The Supreme Court observed that it is the IT Act which shall override the IPC and once a person is acquitted of charges under the IT Act, cannot be prosecuted under the IPC for the same act. The central question in this case was whether a person who has been discharged under Section 67 of the IT Act be proceed with under Section 292 of IPC?
5. K. Abbas v. The Union of India & another,(1971)
   
   The court gave a distinction between Sex and obscenity and has observed that, it would be wrong to perceive nudity & sex as essentially obscene, indecent or immoral. Sex & obscenity are not always synonymous.
    
6. Avinash Bajaj v. State (N.C.T.) of Delhi,(2005)
   An obscene video titled “DSP Girls having fun” was uploaded by a user (Ravi Raj, a student of IIT Kharagpur) on the website bazee.com. The MMS was posted on the website around 8:30 pm of 27 November 2004, which was deactivated around 10 am on 29 November 2004. An F.I.R was also lodged against the bazee.com for putting on sale the obscene material. The CEO of bazee.com, Avinash Bajaj was arrested by the police under Section 67 of the IT Act.
    
7. Sabu Mathew George vs. Union of India,(2008)
   A writ petition was filed to ban advertisements relating to pre-natal sex determination from search engines in India. Several orders have been passed, and the state has now created a nodal agency that would provide search engines with details of websites to block.
   
   The doctrine of auto-block' is an important consideration in this case -in one of the orders the Court listed roughly 40 search terms and stated that respondents should ensure that any attempt at looking up these terms would be auto-blocked', which raises concerns about intermediary liability and free speech.
    
8. Kamlesh Vaswani vs. Union of India, (2013) - A PIL petition was filed in 2013 seeking a ban on pornography in India. The petition also prayed for a direction to the Union Government to “treat watching of porn videos and sharing as non-bailable and cognizable offence.” During the course of the proceedings, the Department of Telecommunications ordered ISPs to block over 800 websites allegedly hosting pornographic content.

This was despite the freedom of expression and privacy related concerns rose before the Supreme Court. The Government argued that the list of websites had been submitted to the DoT by the petitioners, who blocked the websites without any verification. The ban was revoked after much criticism.

The case, currently pending before the Supreme Court, also presented implications for the intermediary liability regime in India. Internet Service Providers may claim safe harbour from liability for content they host, as long as they satisfy certain due diligence requirements under Sec. 79 of the IT Act, read with the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011.

After the Supreme Court read down these provisions in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India, the primary obligation is to comply with Court orders seeking takedown of content. The petition before the Supreme Court seeks to impose an additional obligation on ISPs to identify and block all pornographic content, or risk being held liable.

Apart from case laws, Supreme Court of India, at multiple instances, has asked centre government to frame Standard operating procedure' to handle complaints, involving child pornography, and obscene contents online.

A bench of Justice Madan Lokur and Justice UU Lalit also directed government to give a copy of the “Standard Operating Procedure” to internet service providers, Google, Yahoo, WhatsApp, Facebook and Microsoft- who may make their suggestions to the Ministry of Home Affairs by 9th November, 2018.

The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to implement the proposal of a high-powered committee, which was constituted to devise a plan to check circulation of child pornography and sexual violence videos on the Internet, to set up a cell within the CBI or the Ministry of Home Affairs to deal with such crimes.

The Apex court said that parameters regarding pornography has to be decided, and it has already held in previous cases that Freedom of speech and expression as envisaged under Article 19 (1) (A) of the Constitution, is not Absolute' and is subject to reasonable restrictions.

The court observed that, Pornography is very difficult topic. Some people will find the picture of Monalisa as obscene while some people will find it as an art. But one has to draw a line what can be viewed in public and what can be viewed in private.

Role of Centre & States Government: - Obligated or Irresolute

Public Order is a State subject under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. The responsibility to maintain law and order, protection of life and property of the citizens including children, rests primarily with the respective State Governments and UT Administration.

The State/UT Governments are competent to deal with such offences including cyber-crime, offences under the extant provisions of law and time and again various directions have been given to the government by the Supreme Court considering various petitions demanding ban on the pornography sites.

Government has taken a number of steps to be implemented by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to protect children from sexual abuse online:

• Government blocks the websites containing extreme Child sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) based on INTERPOL's “Worst-of-list” shared periodically by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is the National Nodal Agency for Interpol. The list is shared with Department of Telecommunications (DoT), who then directed major ISPs to block such websites
   
• Government ordered major ISPs in India to adopt and disable/remove the online CSAM dynamically based on Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), UK list.
   
• Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) is implementing a major program on Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA). A dedicated website for information security awareness has also been set up.
   
• The government has blocked the websites carrying child pornographic content and also asked the CBSE to consider installation of jammers in schools to block access to such sites.
   
• The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MEITY), in its latest draft sent to the law ministry for vetting, had proposed that content related to terrorism and child pornography should be weeded out by built-in automated technology tools.
   
• The government has notified the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Rules 2020, enabling implementation of recent amendments to the Act that made punishment provisions more stringent and for the first-time defined Child Pornography and provided for crackdown for possession of pornographic material involving children. These POCSO rules became effective from March 9, 2020. The rules specify that state governments must formulate a child protection policy based on the principle of “Zero Tolerance to violence against children”, which shall be adopted by all institutions, organizations or any other agency working with children.
   
• Agencies across the world are sharing information to combat child pornography. New technologies and methods are being adopted.
   
• Coordination between police and ordinary people to identify the hotspots of child pornography.
   
• The Court asked the Centre to strictly implement the ban on pornographic websites, after the report that a girl was gang-raped in a school by her fellow students after they watched porn clips.

Supposition's & Recommendations

1. The legal procedural barriers to protect the interests of children on the Internet are vexing, due to definitional difficulties, different culture, social values & jurisdictional issues.
    
2. The lack of stringent framework of policies relating to privacy, content regulation and pornography is major obstacle to effectuate a workable international strategy to protect the interests of children on the Internet.
    
3. Over the years, there has been research or surveys, over the child porn or sexual abuse, but the progress is slow. Various International legislation enacted, which has helped to raise awareness and attach new urgency to the issue but many countries took no action, in order to secure the safer future for children's. The children's life is more important than relatively minor concerns about civil liberties or entrapment.
    
4. The Country's Police should play strengthened crackdown on such child related sexual abuses, but at the same time, it is also indispensable to obtain people's understanding and cooperation and take preemptive measures to prevent the occurrence and expansion of the damage of child pornography and to enhance the system to protect and support child victims.
    
5. Parents should talk to their children about online pornography and must talk to them about child pornography. An illegal image is only a Google search away. Talk to your children about what to do if they come across this imagery. Talk about the images your child might have seen.
    
6. Raising awareness of the unacceptability of child sexual abuse, and promoting the notion that stopping child sexual abuse is everyone's responsibility.
    
7. A powerful public education message must be transmitted to the general public, encouraging society to recognize that child sexual abuse is both everyone's problem and responsibility. The goal of such public education efforts is to eliminate any tolerance for sexual abuse or confusion over what society condones as appropriate interactions between adults and children.
    
8. Children who have been sexually abused may face severe and long-term psychological consequences. Mental health services, especially if timely, can help ease some of these consequences. They also may help stop the intergenerational transmission of child sexual abuse. Mental health services to those engaging in abusive behavior can help them address stressors that often lead to sexual abuse, helping end such abuse.
    
9. Through publicly soliciting slogans and symbol marks for the elimination of child pornography as a part of public relations and awareness-raising activities, efforts shall be made to promote people's movement in an effective manner.
    
10. At the same time, measures shall be taken to improve the performance of filtering services and software based on such needs. The use of filtering services and software shall also be disseminated.

Written by:

1. Mohit Parihar, Advocate & Cyber Law Expert, Rajasthan High Court, Jaipur.
2. Yamini Atreya, Research Scholar, Department of Law, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur.