HYDERABAD: Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Saturday directed state authorities to prepare a comprehensive Child Online Safety Framework to protect children from cybercrimes and ensure they get justice, in consultation with the Telangana High Court and the Telangana State Legal Services Authority (TGSLSA).Addressing the inaugural session of the National Legal Services Authority’s two-day South Zone Regional Conference, themed “Justice for Children in Cyberspace”, being held in Hyderabad, Revanth said protecting children and women remained the government’s highest priority.He urged that parents be involved in the effort and said every child and parent should know two numbers: 1930 for cybercrime and 1098 for child help.Parents, he advised, should be curious about their children’s online lives rather than judgemental. “Speak to them, know them, know what they are doing online,” the CM added.Highlighting the state’s child-friendly support systems, the CM emphasised, “Justice is not only about conviction. It is about restoration,” warning that while the internet had not created these crimes, it had made them easier to organise globally.He also launched the TGSLSA Freedom from Bonded Labour – Legal Aid, Rescue, Rehabilitation and Reintegration Scheme, 2026, inaugurated the Commitment Wall and flagged off “Nyaya Ratham-Justice at the Doorstep”, an initiative for accessible, affordable and expeditious justice.Supreme Court Judge and Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) Justice Vikram Nath said technology must serve childhood and never become an instrument of exploitation, stressing that the challenge was not choosing between technology and safety.He described children as rights-holders under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, with rights to privacy, information, expression and dignity, and cautioned that artificial intelligence was making risks more complex.“The system cannot wait for a child to become a victim,” he said, while pointing to recent Supreme Court directions for victim-centred action plans against exploitative gangs and the recognition of cyber-enabled human trafficking. He said legal services authorities can act as a bridge between children and the justice system.Union Minister of State for Law & Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal called for school-based legal literacy and digital literacy for parents to counter threats such as online grooming and child sexual abuse material.He stressed training investigators and prosecutors in collecting, preserving and presenting digital evidence under the Information Technology Act, and adopting trauma-informed, gender-responsive and disability-sensitive processes. Citing Article 39A, he pushed for counselling, victim compensation, local-language awareness material and legal camps to deliver “justice at the doorstep”.Justice P.S. Narasimha of the Supreme Court called children “society’s most precious asset” and urged that parents, teachers and policymakers be given the time and security to devote to them, while recalling a Hyderabad childhood of making manjha, flying kites, cycling across the city and playing cricket, neither overprotected nor neglected.Time, he said, is the cheapest yet most effective way to keep a child safe. Modern pressures and the pull of cyberspace leave working parents with little of it. Linking the issue to falling fertility, from 2.1 to 1.97, he warned of ageing societies like Japan.Justice Alok Aradhe of the Supreme Court said protecting children online is a constitutional mandate, not charity. Citing anonymous accounts, encrypted messaging, cross-border offenders and easily deleted evidence, he stressed proper preservation of digital evidence, free legal services for children and legal awareness among parents, teachers and communities.Justice R. Mahadevan of the Supreme Court said technology must serve children, who are rights-holders, and never become a tool for exploitation. He described prevention, protection, investigation, legal aid and rehabilitation as linked responsibilities, citing Supreme Court directions on cyber-enabled human trafficking.Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court Aparesh Kumar Singh delivered the inaugural address, and Justice P. Sam Koshy, Executive Chairman of the Telangana State Legal Services Authority (TGSLSA), proposed the vote of thanks.Chief Justices of high courts from the southern states, judges from Telangana and other high courts, and dignitaries representing different stakeholders associated with NALSA and TGSLSA attended the inaugural session.
