Protecting Women And Children Against Digital Offences: A Critical And Comparative Legal Perspective For Implementation In India
- IJLLR Journal
- Jun 5
- 2 min read
Madipeddi Shravani & S Vijay Amruth, NALSAR University
ABSTRACT
With the increase in accessibility of digital platforms, vulnerable groups like women and children are being subjected to cybercrimes such as cyberstalking, cyber bullying, online harassment, trolling, child grooming, and non-consensual image sharing (revenge porn). As these digital abuses often get viral, they escalate quickly on anonymous platforms and cause irreparable damage to the innocent victims.
Though there are Indian legal frameworks like the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023; Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023; Information Technology (IT) Act, 2020; and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, these acts are silent on AI-generated offences, lack legal protections available to victims, and lack consistent enforcement. Also, these laws often overlap, creating ambiguity and inadequately addressing the slow and complicated complaint-filing mechanism.
Hence, this paper compares, examines, and analyses the legal frameworks of the U.S., Germany, Japan and England . The Online Safety Act of the UK law focuses on mandating the intermediaries, i.e., the platforms, to swiftly remove harmful content and empowers the Office of Communications to penalise non-compliant services. The German Penal Code (Strafgesetzbuch, StGB) expressly makes grooming practices illegal. Japan mandates that the victims prove that there is an invasion of their privacy, and also that the intimate pictures and their behaviour have caused irreparable loss to the victim. The Online Safety Act 2023 of England has imposed a statutory duty on online platforms and mandated them to assess and mitigate the risk which is associated with illegal content generated by abusing women and children, and to regulate harmful online behaviour by perpetrators. Also, by comparing Indian laws with the stringent laws of these countries, the paper recommends the best practices of hassle-free responsive authorities, intermediary responsibilities, and remedies to victims.
