The technical education regulator has asked universities and colleges under its purview to sensitise students, parents and teachers about the menace of production and circulation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) took the step after being prodded by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which has expressed concern about a “tremendous increase” in the distribution and consumption of CSAM in India. It asked the institutions to sensitise, create awareness and provide victim support.
The NHRC had issued an advisory to the states, Union Territories and the Centre on October 27 asking them to implement its recommendations and send action-taken reports within two months.
“The tremendous increase in the production, distribution and consumption of CSAM needs to be imperatively addressed as it may have a lasting psychological impact on the child leading to further disruption of his or her overall development,” said a forwarding letter by NHRC secretary-general Bharat Lal.
The advisory quoted the CyberTipline 2022 Report of the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a US-based child protection organisation, that said that out of 32 million reports received by it, 5.6 million pertained to CSAM uploaded by perpetrators based out of India.
“Production of CSAM creates a permanent record of sexual abuse while its subsequent transmission and consumption via internet and other means result in perpetual victimisation of children thereby having a lasting psychological impact on the child leading to further disruption of his or her overall development,” the report said.
The NHRC has stressed the identification and blocking of CSAM, timely sharing of data with stakeholders and expeditious prosecution of offenders. It has recommended that
police officers dealing with cases pertaining to CSAM should be sensitised about the rights of children in a digital environment, their specific vulnerabilities related to the Internet, and the use of child-friendly procedures in investigations.
Schools and colleges should create continuous awareness and sensitisation of parents, children and teachers on the modus operandi of online child sexual abusers, specific vulnerabilities of children online, recognising early signs of online child abuse and the reporting mechanism.