A STRENGTHENING THE INDIAN LAWS TO COMBAT THE EMERGING THREATS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE IN THE ONLINE GAMING WORLD

The craze for online games in India is touching new heights everyday and it is getting popular day by day among teenagers. Affordable gaming gadgets built with advanced technologies are also aiding in this popularity growth. But online games are not limited to the extent of gaming adventures only, these days many online gaming platforms provide facilities of access to public profiles, live streaming, live chats, live comments, collabs, private messaging, sharing of personal information, etc. At the same time, the legal control on the activities in online gaming platforms is quite weak, which has created a vulnerable situation for all the minors using online gaming platforms. Predators have now started using these gaming platforms to target minors for stalking, bullying, grooming, manipulating, deepfake, sextortion, distribution of vulgar content, etc. Insufficient platform liability along with poor parental control has also been making many children victims of sexual abuse. These emerging cases on online gaming platforms must be immediately stopped with strict implementation of laws. The author in this paper has highlighted this emerging issue and has recommended some much needed legal reforms. The need for parental control, widespread awareness and the required behavioural changes for personal safety have also been highlighted in this paper. The main focus has been on the Indian cyber laws and special focus has been given on strengthening the liabilities of the intermediaries in case of failure to protect children from predators