Identifying Offenders and Victims in Cybersex Trafficking: A Comparative Study of India and Indonesia

Abstract

Human trafficking as a traditional crime, when merged with the cyber operations and the attributes of cybercrime presents a complex scenario of trafficking in the cyber world. The issue of cybersex trafficking is getting rampant because of the expansion of cyberspace. The criminal legal framework in India and Indonesia tackled the aspects of human trafficking through its criminal and specific legislations, but does not adequately address cybersex trafficking in the transnational setting. This paper attempts to understand the definitional delimitations of human trafficking as a cybercrime, denoted as cybersex trafficking, by examining the modus operandi for identifying the offenders and victims in the cyberspace. It further attempts to understand the legislative lacunae both in India and Indonesia, by examining the existing legal frameworks and identifying the grey areas which fails to address the aspects of cybersex trafficking. The paper employs doctrinal methodology with a comparative analysis of India and Indonesia, by examining various primary and secondary sources. The paper address that identifying offenders and victims in cybersex trafficking is a complex phenomenon because of the transnational nature of the crime. Therefore, the paper’s key contribution is to propose reforms comprising a statutory definition of cybersex trafficking which does not require physical movement of the victim, non-punishment clauses for the trafficked persons, and cooperative reporting obligations on digital intermediaries in the existing criminal legal frameworks of India and Indonesia to effectively tackle the issue of cybersex trafficking.