Cybercrimes Against Juveniles in India: Legal Framework, Law Enforcement Challenges, and Child-Sensitive Policy Responses

Abstract

Cybercrime against juveniles has become a serious legal and socio-technological problem because online abuse, cyberbullying, grooming, identity misuse, phishing, deepfake misuse and child sexual exploitation now operate through anonymous, trans-jurisdictional and rapidly evolving digital platforms. This paper examines the adequacy of the Indian legal framework for protecting juveniles from cybercrime with specific empirical reference to the National Capital Region (NCR), India. The study adopts a mixed doctrinal and empirical method. Doctrinal analysis covers the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, relevant criminal law provisions and intermediary obligations. Empirical data were collected through a structured questionnaire from 359 students/youth respondents from the NCR region. Descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation, Chi-square test of independence and Cramer's V effect-size analysis were identified as suitable techniques for assessing categorical patterns in awareness, reporting behaviour, legal knowledge and perceptions of enforcement effectiveness. The key doctrinal finding is that India has multiple protective statutes, but the framework remains fragmented because cyberbullying, grooming, platform accountability, child-friendly reporting, digital evidence preservation and rehabilitation of juvenile cyber offenders are not integrated into a single child-sensitive cyber protection mechanism. The empirical findings show substantial variation in exposure, legal awareness, reporting confidence and perceptions of enforcement across respondent categories. The paper proposes an integrated juvenile cyber protection framework combining legal clarification, digital literacy, platform accountability, child-friendly reporting, specialised cyber investigation and restorative rehabilitation.