Combating Threat of Child Sexual Abuse in the Online Gaming World: A Critical Analyses of the Indian Laws

Abstract

Online gaming has become quite popular among teenagers due to the continuous advancements of technologies, availability of affordable gaming gadgets, good internet connection, etc. But at the same time, the vulnerability of children has significantly increased. Many children have become easy targets of online frauds, sexual abuse, manipulations, etc. The cases of verbal abuse, child sexual harassment, bullying etc. in the online gaming world, has created an unsafe environment for children. India has become a huge market for online gaming but poor regulatory control over gaming world and increasing cases of child sexual abuse on such platforms has created a dangerous environment for children. Bullying, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, etc have become common practices in online gaming world amd the measures for age restrictions, parental control, verifications, etc. are also quite poor. Poor platform accountability, improper cyber risk management, weak law enforcement, etc. have been continuously increasing the threats of child sexual abuse in online gaming world. Lack of attention of legal authorities towards this issue will keep increasing the vulnerabilities of children. Hence, it is immediately required that the online gaming world in India should be strictly monitored to prevent any case of cybercrimes and child sexual abuse. By adopting the doctrinal method of research, the authors have examined the needs to combat the threat of child sexual abuse in the online gaming world.