Women's Panel Pushes IT Act Revamp With Victim Fund And Al Audits

It's time to make the internet safer for women. That's the clear message from the National Commission for Women (NCW), which has submitted a major report to the government demanding urgent changes to India's cyber laws.

The recommendations aim to enhance protection for women online, including mandating the removal of non-consensual intimate content within 12 hours; proposing tougher penalties for cyber offences, specifically including AI-manipulated imagery (deepfakes) and online grooming as offences; and extending protection against digital harassment to remote workplaces under the POSH Act. The proposals span amendments to the IT Act, the new data protection and criminal codes, and other key legislation to strengthen digital rights, enforce platform accountability and boost victim support.

The report, titled "Digital Rights, Privacy Protections, and Platform Accountability", has been sent to the Ministries of Law and Justice, Electronics and Information Technology, Women and Child Development, and Home Affairs. It recommends a comprehensive restructuring of India's cyber legal framework to make it more gender-sensitive. This extensive effort, which includes over 200 actionable recommendations stemming from a year-long national consultation with hundreds of experts, aims to close institutional and legal gaps in tackling cyber offences against women.

NCW Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar articulated the vision that technology must be an instrument of empowerment, not exploitation, ensuring every woman can feel "confident, informed, and secure" in the digital world.

The Commission's recommendations propose amendments across major legislation, focusing on boosting victim support, imposing tougher penalties, and increasing platform responsibility. Under the Information Technology Act, 2000, the NCW suggests tougher penalties for offences against women, penal action for threats to share private content, and the establishment of a mandatory Victim Compensation Fund, coupled with the appointment of district-level psychologists. Furthermore, the IT Rules, 2021, should mandate account verification; specifically include AI-manipulated imagery (deepfakes); introduce new rules for gender-based harassment; and require platform transparency and AI audits.

For data privacy, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, is proposed to include a crucial requirement for the mandatory removal of non-consensual content within a strict 12-hour timeframe, along with stricter consent norms and tiered penalties for gendered data misuse. To address workplace safety, the POSH Act, 2013, should be extended to cover digital harassment and remote workplaces. Under the POCSO Act, 2012, the Commission recommends recognising digital manipulation and online grooming as offences and holding social media platforms accountable for failure to report abuse.

Finally, under the new criminal codes, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, should include offences like cyberbullying, trolling, and deepfakes, with intermediaries required to remove harmful content within 36 hours; while the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, should recognise metadata and temporary files as key digital evidence. The report also seeks to modernise evidence laws under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, by recognising metadata and temporary files as key digital evidence and ensuring quick victim statement recording under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. Furthermore, the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, is proposed to cover online and OTT content, with a swift 48-hour recourse mechanism.

The overall goal of the report is to strengthen digital rights, promote platform accountability, enhance forensic capabilities, and foster digital literacy through preventive awareness.

Law and Justice Minister Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, who attended the final consultation, commended the NCW's "proactive efforts in driving reforms that safeguard women in the digital space."

The National Crime Records Bureau's Crime in India 2023 report, released in September 2025, documents a sharp 31.2% increase in overall cybercrime cases nationwide—from 65,893 in 2022 to 86,420 in 2023—with fraud, extortion, and sexual exploitation comprising the majority. This rise disproportionately affects women, as highlighted in the report and corroborated by state-level breakdowns, such as Chhattisgarh's 36% jump in cybercrimes (to 1,067 cases), where nearly 19% involved online harassment, including cyberstalking and the sharing of obscene content.