The Information Technology Amendment Act of India, 2008 (ITAA) makes it an offence under section 67B to facilitate abusing children online. However, the term 'facilitates abusing children online' is not explained. The concept of online sexual predators grooming children is not specified in the Act. The rest of the sub-clauses outlines child pornography, cultivating, and enticing inducing child-to-child relationship for sexually explicit acts.
A legal provision specifically addressing the issue of distributing obscene material to minors in India is section 293 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), which punishes the sale, letting on hire, distribution, exhibition or circulation of obscene material to any person under the age of twenty years.
Here the offer and attempt are penalized.
Accessing sexually explicit material online would not come under the ambit of section 67 of the Information Technology Act 2000 which punishes the 'publishing', 'transmitting' and 'causing to be published' obscene material in electronic form, which are not explained.
Since 'access' is just the opposite of 'transmit',
such access of sexually explicit material cannot be punished under section 67 of the IT Act, or under the new provision 67A of the ITAA 2008.
Taking a cue from the US, an additional offence of facilitation of accidental/inadvertent access by a child to sexually explicit material through misleading domain names and pop-ups containing sexually explicit material could be made under the ITA in India.