Delhi: NGO organises consultation on emerging online harms faced by children

Delhi: NGO organises consultation on emerging online harms faced by children

New Delhi, A national consultation held in Delhi on Friday by an NGO, in partnership with the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights , called for a child-centric legal, policy and institutional response to emerging online harms faced by children.

Delhi: NGO organises consultation on emerging online harms faced by children

According to an official statement, the consultation on "Emerging Online Harms and Offences Against Children Towards a Child-Centred Legal, Policy and Institutional Response" was held at the India International Centre by Matri Sudha, in partnership with the DCPCR, Government of NCT of Delhi.

It brought together representatives from child-rights bodies, the government, law enforcement, academia, legal experts, technology platforms and civil society.

DCPCR Chairperson O P Vyas said Delhi should take a leadership role in advancing child online safety by bringing together key stakeholders from the government, law enforcement, child-rights institutions, academia, legal experts, technology platforms and civil society.

He proposed the constitution of a multi-stakeholder working group that would examine emerging challenges, identify gaps in the existing framework and develop a set of actionable recommendations for submission to the government.

Delhi Women and Child Development Department Secretary Rashmi Singh called for a citywide campaign on online safety of children, a proposal echoed by DCPCR member Kundan Kanskar during the National Cyber Safety Month 2026.

The consultation came at a time when children's lives are increasingly intertwined with digital platforms, artificial intelligence , online gaming, social media and other emerging technologies.

Alongside opportunities for learning, communication and participation, children are increasingly exposed to evolving forms of online abuse and exploitation, the statement said.

These include online grooming, cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, non-consensual intimate imagery, deepfakes, impersonation, manipulation, cyberstalking and AI-enabled harms.

The deliberations centred on whether India's existing legal, policy and institutional frameworks are adequately equipped to respond to emerging technology-facilitated harms against children and what reforms may be required to address evolving risks.

Arvind Singh, director of Matri Sudha and co-founder of Cyber Chakravyuh, emphasised the need to move from fragmented responses to a coordinated national framework for child online safety.

He said the digital environment has fundamentally changed the nature and pathways through which children can be exposed to harm. Online grooming, for instance, can become a pathway to more serious forms of exploitation, while generative AI and other emerging technologies can amplify existing risks through manipulated images, impersonation and other forms of abuse, according to the statement.

The wider effort envisages state-level capacity building, a national roadmap for child digital safety and eventual regional cooperation within South Asia on the cross-border dimensions of these harms.

Cyber Chakravyuh and Child Rights and You were the supporting and technical partners, while Independent Thought, CASCA, MVN University and DME University served as knowledge partners, according to the statement.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.