A conclave hosted here on Monday by Assam police brought together voices from across sectors to discuss how the Internet is reshaping childhood and how the nation must respond.
The Assam police, through its Sishu Mitra Program, in collaboration with Proto Infans Internet Rights (PIIR) Foundation and supported by Unicef India, hosted Infantia — India’s first national dialogue on children’s rights on the Internet at a city hotel on Monday.
State police chief, Harmeet Singh, stressed “the need to harness many benefits of the internet, while ensuring that its perils do not affect our children”.
In his address, Assam DGP Harmeet Singh flagged the importance of building trust-based communication between parents and teachers on one hand, and children on the other. He further said: “Our endeavour is to start a serious conversation to protect the digital rights of children and urge each member of the audience to take the dialogue forward in their homes, schools, communities and societyas a whole.”
Actor and parenting influencer Neha Dhupia, who attended the event as a guest speaker, drew from her own journey as a mother navigating the digital world and the pressures modern parents face when it comes to sharing their children’s lives online.
“Not everything about your child needs to be posted online,” Neha said, calling attention to the growing culture of oversharing and the need to protect children’s digital dignity. Neha praised the initiative for shifting the narrative and placing children’s rights, consent and privacy at the heart of digital parenting.