Artificial Intelligence and digital technology is now a part of our day-to-day life. From writing mails, to finding places to visit, to watching entertainment content, we are using AI and digital technology. Women and children remain the most vulnerable group who face various kinds of violations in this interest area. The number of instances of online harassment, bullying, privacy infringement & stalking against women and children is on the increase. According to National Crime Records Bureau report of 2023, cybercrime in India saw a 31.2% surge in 2023 from 2022 with fraud, extortion and sexual exploitation amounting to majority of the cases. Men, women, children and the aged, no one is spared but the gravity and frequency of crimes against women are touching new heights.
Womens’ rights in digital arena is one most debated and the Indian government is trying to make various legislations to address the issue of womens’ safety online. The Standard Operating Procedure to combat Non-Consensual Intimate Imagery (NCII) by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under Clause (b) of sub-rule (2) of rule 3 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 is the first such major move which mandates online platforms to remove content within 24 hours of receiving a report about such content. This framework protects women from infringement of privacy and dignity because of intimate, nude and AI morphed content. Also, victims can lodge a complaint at https://stopncii.org/ to remove non-consensual intimate imagery.
A Private Member’s Bill (Dec 2025) proposes a statutory AI Ethics Committee, mandatory ethical reviews, bias audits, developer duties, limits on AI use in law enforcement/employment, grievance mechanisms, and penalties up to ₹5 crores. Though as of yet unenacted, it signals rising parliamentary push for binding AI accountability. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2026 has brought a great relief to victims of online crimes specially women under the amended rules. Under this legislation in India, for the first time, AI generated content, deepfake videos, synthetic generated audio and other synthetic altered video and audio come under formal regulatory framework.
The amended rule mandates that intermediaries like Facebook, Instagram etc must label all synthetically generated audio, video and pictures so that all users can spot that the content is synthetically generated. The intermediaries should also embed metadata and unique identifiers to the content so that the source from which the data is generated can be traced back. These Rules also mandates that the intermediary should take all precaution possible so that once the labelling is done, it is impossible to modify, suppress, morph or strip such label away which renders protection permanently.
This rule also defends, for the first time, the synthetically generated information which is of core importance for protection of the rights of the victims, specially women. There are many cases that have surfaced in media during last one year in which AI tools have been used to morph video, audio and pictures which not just violated right to privacy and dignity but also became the cause of suicide and self-harm in many cases.
In a known case, a Class 10th student was found hanging from the ceiling of her room in Sonarpur district in West Bengal after her AI-Generated nude images were circulated on social media by a married man living in her society. Deepfake video and pictures also threaten to be instruments to blackmail young girls and women and many cases have been reported in the past one year. The new legislation is trying to curb such menace by libelling timely action and accountability of intermediaries.
Intermediaries like Facebook and Instagram under rule 4(1A) are mandated to ask the user to self-declare that the content is AI generated and if the user does not declare properly in self-declaration then these intermediaries are asked to use automated tools to cross verify each content format, source and nature before anything becomes live online. The amended rule has made the law more effective by reducing the time taken by intermediaries for taking action. The earlier response window of 36 hours is slashed to 3 hours in case of any lawful order which is directed to the intermediary.
The 24 hours’ deadline to remove content is now slashed to 12 hours in the new rule, making it more effective and this time bound framework will be helpful to protect women against deep fakes and other AI generated content. The rule also bars misuse of AI generated content misuse to Bharatiya Naya Sanhita, POCSO Act and Explosive Substances Act which can deter the user who misuses AI content. The platforms are also asked to educate users about penalties for misusing AI content at least once every three months. Overall, women victims will get fast and speedy justice after implementation of this rule which came into effect from 20th February 2026.