Child Pornography – The Naked Truth In India!

9,670 Results on you tube when you type, ‘Sex in Indian Schools’…

7,530 Results when you type, ‘Indian School Girls Sex’…

More such results come up when you type Children and Sex together with the most lurid content ever (verbal and pictorial). Many more results if you look out for video-streaming websites especially made for circulating pornography.

Shocking, sickening and shameful – that’s how one feels when the innocent children are robbed off their smiles and made to do something so disgusting (forced or induced) in the form of children pornography.

Nevertheless, the truth is there for us to see – the chocolatey world of children, where chasing after butterflies has gotten replaced with chasing away the ‘sex-obsessed’ people with dead conscience who don’t even refrain from abusing or using children for sexual pleasure. The worst part is that all this gets recorded and circulated as Child Pornography for other such heinous people to enjoy!

There has been a steady rise in the number of Child Pornography cases registered and related arrests in India. The number of cases stood at 99 in 2007, 105 in 208 and 139 in 2009, and the statistics are on a constant increase. Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan are some of the states afflicted with this disgraceful crime.

The latest was reported in June 2012 at ‘Apna Ghar’, a shelter home in Rohtak, Haryana. The children in this shelter home were subjected to sexual abuse, forcible stripping and pornography, and even forced abortion!

“Every inmate, irrespective of the age, was forced to consume liquor at night, especially on the occasion of Holi. The caretakers used to put Holi colours on their private parts,” mentioned a report conducted after the incident based on the interviews of 101 inmates. 

The NAKED truth!

Child pornography has been defined by the Law as portrayal of children in all forms of media including images, films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving children. With technology becoming cheaper day by day, anyone can buy a cell-phone to record explicit content of innocent children, by force or manipulation.

The problem has compounded with the ever-increasing dominance of Internet, which puts every child at risk of getting exposed to its inappropriate material – sexual, hateful, or violent in nature – or encourages activities that are dangerous or illegal.

Have we ever wondered about the children appearing in child pornography; they might not have been abducted or physically forced to participate. In most cases, it’s either some family member manipulating them to indulge in pornography or someone invading their privacy! Whatever the reason, there are bound to be devastating physical, social, and psychological effects on such children, and on all those who are exposed to such material via Internet or media.

The children portrayed in child pornography are first victimized when their abuse is perpetrated and recorded. And they are further victimized, abused and subjected to horrible punishments to indulge deeper in pornography. The initial feelings of shame and pain gradually mature into trauma, rebel and hatred.

The vicious circle of child pornography will further entice all those mentally sick grown-ups who derive pleasure in sexualabuse of children. They would not mind putting in action what they see in videos. So are we waiting for such things to happen to our ‘protected and sheltered’ children to feel the need to raise a voice? Isn’t it bad enough that it’s happening to other, equally innocent, children? When would the Government, Media and Opinion Leaders come forward to frame a protocol against child pornography?

Child Pornography – Illegal yet very much in practice!

Other democratic countries are very liberal in accepting Adult Porn, but Child Porn is strictly banned and punishable with strict imprisonment. India, though, had a Law relating to Pornography but a few amendments were made in 2009 under the Information Technology Act to include a Section specifically dealing with Child Pornography.

The Information Technology Act 2009 has made it illegal to not only create and transmit child pornography in any electronic form, but even to browse it. The punishment for a first offence of publishing, creating, exchanging, downloading or browsing any electronic depiction of children in "obscene or indecent or sexually explicit manner" can attract five years in jail and a fine of Rs 10 lakh.

Section 67B of this Act proposes specifically to punish involvement in sexually explicit online or electronic content that depicts children. It will also be an offence to "cultivate, entice or induce children to online relationship with other children for a sexual act."

All this sounds effective but sadly it is not! Simply because, the new media of communication are so difficult to control and regulate! Hope Mr Sibal shifts his attention to this issue as well!

Internet has been seen in various part of the world as facilitating networking among child- abuse perpetrators, as well as cyber-stalkers; as a result, children end up being sexually harassed on the internet, and sometimes it even aids the promotion of  sex tourism for children!

Recently, an expo published by a news website, WND.com, has revealed a disturbing amount of child pornography being shared by predators on Facebook. And the decentralized structure of the Internet makes control of child pornography extremely difficult. So how are we going to act against child pornography and protect the future of our children? Merely enacting legislation will not be enough unless this is followed by strict enforcement of the law with accountability defined.

The solution lies in ‘Individual Awakening’. Each one of us needs to be conscious and educate our children against such crimes. If the Government can not ban such sites or catch hold of culprits, it should at least make all of us more aware to condemn and report such content. 

If you are well-meaning enough to get internet connections for your kids, be smart enough to have child filters installed, or simply, monitor their activities. If you don’t understand technology much, learn it. That’s not too much of an asking for your child’s welfare and safety.

We need to talk out on all these matters and ensure that children do not pay for the mistake of confusing Pornography with Photography!

It’s worth mentioning a Nida Fazli couplet – “Bacho ke chote haathon ko chaand sitare chune do… Char kitaben padhkar ye bhi hum jaise ho jayenge.”

For them to be engaged in their world books and games, it’s imperative that they are safe, for which parents must take affirmative action. It’s time for parents, teachers and media to come forward and protect children from sexual exploitation and raise a strong voice against Child pornography.