NEW DELHI: A minor girl from West Bengal, whose Instagram reels received many impressions on social media, one day got an ‘offer’ to act in a Hindi film. She readily accepted the offer, but soon found to her shock that the proposal was bait to lure her into prostitution. It was a narrow escape for her. But many such girls fall prey to miscreants on social media looking for vulnerable profiles.
The rising number of such cases has caught the attention of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). The child rights body will be holding a meeting of all stakeholders on August 21 to deal with the problem of social media becoming a ‘tool for trafficking.’ The meeting aims to examine the existing mechanism and develop preventive measures to ensure the safety of children in the cyber world.
In a letter to all the stakeholders, including the IT and telecom ministry, NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo said, “The commission has received information regarding several alarming incidents where minor children have been lured and further been made victim to offences like online grooming for various unlawful activities, trafficking, online sexual abuse and online harassment by people who they meet on social media websites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.”
He further said the commission had received complaints and reports on the availability of child sexual abuse material on various social media platforms and web pages. Speaking to this paper, Kanoongo said that in the last two years, they have encountered several cases where minor girls have been lured through social media, especially Instagram.
“It is important to note that these incidents are now on the rise due to the easy access of the unmonitored or unsupervised Internet and social media platforms,” Kanoongo said. “In the West Bengal incident, the girl was lucky that the accused was nabbed in time. In another incident, we found a body of a minor girl similarly lured through social media. Several such instances have come to light. Social media has now become the tool for traffickers,” he added.
Kanoongo said young children posting videos and reels online are unaware that they are easy prey for online stalking and online grooming for unlawful activities. “We want cyberspace to be a safe space for minors. It is thus necessary to examine and develop a framework and mechanism to safeguard them,” he added.
In his letter, the NCPCR head has said that the commission “deems it appropriate for a deliberation to examine and review framework/mechanism under various laws, based on the inputs from all the stakeholders, and recommend measures for their effective implementation.” “Such framework will not only cater to the challenges faced by the authorities but also lay down preventive measures to safeguard children,” the letter said. Major Internet Service Providers have also been invited to attend the meeting.
Lured online
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has received information regarding several alarming incidents where minor children have been lured and been made victim to offences like online grooming for various unlawful activities, trafficking, online sexual abuse and online harassment by people who they meet on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.