Aryan Babele - Cyber Crimes Against Women and Children

CYBER CRIMES
AGAINST WOMEN
AND CHILDREN
CYBER TECHNOLOGY AND CYBER CRIME
SYNOPSIS
• Introduction to ‘Cyber Crimes’

• Different types of cyber crimes that target
women and children
• Different laws that protect women and children
against cyber crimes
• Different case-laws that laid the foundation of
novel safeguards against cyber crimes for
women and children
• Recent trends in relation to cyber crimes
against women and children
DEFINITION OF CYBERCRIME
• The Rajya Sabha Standing Committee 2021 was informed by the Ministry of Home Affairs in its background note that there is no
legal definition for cyber crime.
• Cybercrime is defined, as a crime in which a computer is the object of the crime (hacking, phishing, spamming) or is used as a tool
to commit an offence (cyber pornography, hate crimes).
1. The UN Manual on the Prevention and Control of Computer-Related Crimes — Computer crime can involve activities that are traditional in
nature, such as theft, fraud, forgery and mischief, all of which are generally subject everywhere to criminal sanctions.
2. UK National Criminal Intelligence Service — Cybercrime is an offence in which a computer is directly and significantly instrumental in the
commission of the crime.
• Differentiation between ‘cyber crimes’ and ‘conventional crimes’:

1. Cybercrimes always involve use of computers and technology.
2. Cybercrimes can be committed in the jurisdiction without the criminal being physically present in it, i.e. it knows no geographical
limitations, boundaries or distances.
3. Practically cybercrimes can be understood as, hackers vandalizing your site, viewing confidential information, or stealing trade secrets with
the use of network.
CYBERCRIMES AGAINST WOMEN AND
CHILDREN
• Amongst the various cybercrimes committed against individuals and society at large the
crimes which can be mentioned as specially targeting women and children:
AGAINST WOMEN AGAINST CHILDREN
Cyber stalking Online abuse
Cyber extortion Cyber bullying
Cheating and Fraud Child pornography
Cyber bullying Cyber trafficking
Morphing and
Online grooming
Email Spoofing
Cyber trafficking Violation of Privacy

LEGISLATIVE PROVISIONS FOR HANDLING
CYBERCRIMES
• Most of the cyber crimes are offenses committed with the aid of computer resources and such offenses are analogous to
traditional crimes covered in Indian Penal Code, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (‘POCSO’) or other statutes.
• The Government of India has strengthened the legal framework from time to time for dealing with cyber crime against women
and children.
Information Technology Act, 2000 Indian Penal Code, 1860

(i) Section 66E: Punishment for violation of privacy; (ii) Section (i) Section 354A - Sexual harassment and punishment for
67: Punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material sexual harassment; (ii) Section 354C - Voyeurism; (iii) Section
354D – Stalking; (iv) Section 503: Criminal intimidation; and
in electronic form; (iii)Section 67A: Punishment for publishing
(v) Section 509-Word, gesture, or act intended to insult the
or transmitting of material containing the sexually explicit act, modesty of a woman.
etc., in electronic form; (iv)Section 67B: Punishment for
publishing or transmitting of material depicting children in the
POCSO Act, 2012 as amended in 2019
sexually explicit act, etc., in electronic form; and (v) Section 75: (i) Section 14 (1) Punishment for using a child for
Act to apply for offense or contravention committed outside pornographic purposes. (ii) Section 15 (1) Punishment for
India. storage of pornographic material involving a child.
CASE LAWS ON CYBERCRIMES AGAINST WOMEN AND
CHILDREN
• The State of Tamil Nadu v Suhas Katti [CC No. 4680/2014 (CCM, Egmore)] case is about posting
obscene, defamatory and annoying message - S. 469 IPC (forgery of reputation), S. 509 IPC (words or
gestures intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and S. 67 of IT Act 2000 (punishment obscene
material).
• The very first instance of cyber defamation in India was recorded in the case of SMC Pneumatics
(India) Pvt. Ltd. v. Jogesh Kwatra [CS(OS) No. 1279/2001 (Delhi High Court, 2001)].
• In Avnish Bajaj v State (N.C.T.) of Delhi [116 (2005) DLT 427] an obscene MMS clipping was listed
for sale on Baazee.com.
• In Dr L Prakash v Superintendent [(2008) 3 Mad LJ (Crl) 578] charged under section 506, 367, 120B
of the IPC and section 67 of IT Act, 2000 (which dealt with obscene publication in the internet).
LOOPHOLES IN THE PRESENT LEGISLATION
• The law to protect women and children online, the existing cyber law was inept to protect
and prevent cybercrimes against women in India. owing to the inherent challenges of the
cyber space, its vastness, borderless character and the anonymity that it offers, tackling
cyber crimes becomes even more challenging.
1. The Information Technology Act, 2000 addresses certain common cyber-crimes such as
cyber stalking, morphing and email spoofing as offences - reluctancy to report the cyber-
crime immediately.
2. The transnational nature of cyber crime leads to jurisdictional complexity, making
investigation and prosecution difficult.
3. Lack of harmonization in legislations amongst countries leads to difficulty in
investigation and prosecution of cyber terrorism offenses.
4. The Information Technology Act, 2000, as amended in 2008, provides for the legal
framework to deal with e-commerce, cyber security, cyber crime and cyber terrorism.
Anonymity, Traceability, Attribution, are the key legal challenges .
RECENT TRENDS AND THE WAY FORWARD
• As per data maintained by NCRB, total cyber crimes against women and children registered during the last 3
years 2017-2020.
Year 2017 2018 2019 2020
No. of Cases 4330 6262 8684 12,776
• The major cyber crimes against women and children as reported by NCRB has been cyber
blackmailing/threatening, cyber pornography/hosting, cyberstalking/bullying, defamation/morphing, fake
profile, etc.
• The Ministry of Home Affairs is implementing two schemes for the prevention of cyber crimes in the country
which are detailed below:-
1. Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children (CCPWC)
2. Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) Scheme
REFERENCES
• The Tables, Maps and Images used in this presentation are sourced from NCRB, Crime in India Report 2020 (2021)
https://ncrb.gov.in/en/Crime-in-India-2020.
• Executive Summary, Crime in India,
https://ncrb.gov.in/sites/default/files/crime_in_india_table_additional_table_chapter_reports/Chapter%201-15.11.16_2015.pdf
• Report no. 230 on Atrocities and crimes against women and children, Department-related Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Home Affairs,
https://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/Committee_site/Committee_File/ReportFile/15/143/230_2021_3_14.pdf
• Jeet Shobhna, “Cybercrimes against Women in India: Information Technology Act, 2000”, Elixir Criminal Law 47 (2019)
p 8891
Thank you.
Aryan Babele
LL.M. (Batch 2021-2022)
Gandhinagar Campus
National Forensic Sciences University

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CYBER CRIMES

• Introduction to ‘Cyber Crimes’

• Differentiation between ‘cyber crimes’ and ‘conventional crimes’:

AGAINST WOMEN AGAINST CHILDREN

Cyber stalking Online abuse

Cyber extortion Cyber bullying

Cheating and Fraud Child pornography

Cyber bullying Cyber trafficking

Cyber trafficking Violation of Privacy

Information Technology Act, 2000 Indian Penal Code, 1860

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