Author: Shaju V. M. & Dr. Arti
Abstract: The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act (2012) depicts an important comprehensive legal framework in India for addressing child sexual crimes against children. However, the digital advancement has given the prolific transformation in social, economic and educational arenas, it has fundamentally altered the landscape of child exploitation beyond boundaries of countries. The technology-facilitated crimes open up unprecedented challenges and solutions rather than the traditional mechanisms. This paper analyses the intersection of emerging technologies and POCSO crimes in India, offering simultaneously the innovative solutions for detection, investigation and prevention. This paper has taken an interdisciplinary analysis and combined legal doctrine, technological capabilities, empirical data from Indian Judicial studies, and primary survey research on young people’s technology acceptance patterns. Thus, the research identifies critical gaps in current POCSO implementation and further proposes technology-enhanced frameworks for improving legal responsiveness to digital exploitation. A comprehensive survey of 677 young people from various districts in Kerala through a customized TAM- based questionnaire by Fred D. Davis (1989) as per the formula (Slovin, 1960) Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA) reveals that Perceived Ease of Use (PEU) and Perceived Usefulness (PU) by Davies (1989) importantly influence responsiveness toward reporting POCSO crimes. It is a predictive model with the R² value exceeding 80% while demographic moderating variables, profession, age and gender show a very minimal differential effect. The location is having a slight differential effect. The study brings out the importance of legal responsiveness through AI assisted detection, automated reporting systems and enhanced digital forensic techniques to protect the children, the future of the nation in the digital age. In other words, legal literacy and protection is possible only through digital literacy in the modern world.
