For most people, the word grooming simply means personal hygiene or taking care of one’s appearance. However, the term also carries another, far more serious meaning which every parent, caregiver, and teacher in India must understand. In legal and child-protection contexts, grooming is closely associated with child sexual abuse. If there is a child or teenager in your home or surroundings, it becomes essential to understand the true meaning of grooming, and as a responsible citizen, it is equally important to be aware of this serious issue.
In the context of child protection, grooming can be described as deliberate behaviour by an adult or older individual to manipulate, control, and prepare a child for abuse. This manipulation may extend beyond the child to parents, relatives, teachers, or other support systems to minimise suspicion and resistance. The person engaging in such behaviour is commonly called a groomer.
In June 2016, the International Labour Organization (ILO), through its Terminology Guidelines for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, provided a clear and authoritative definition of grooming. According to the ILO, grooming is the act of creating, building, or establishing a relationship with a child, either in person or online, via the internet or other digital technologies, with a view to facilitating sexual contact with the child, either online or offline. This definition makes it clear that grooming is a deliberate and preparatory process aimed at sexual exploitation, regardless of whether it occurs physically or digitally.
In simple terms, grooming occurs when someone gradually builds trust with a child to abuse, exploit or manipulate them. While the abuse is most often sexual, it can also include financial exploitation or coercion into illegal activities.
Grooming can occur both online and offline. With increased access to the digital world, online grooming has become alarmingly easy. Groomers use social media platforms, messaging apps, emails, online games, and chat rooms to contact children. The anonymity of the internet allows offenders to conceal their identity while gradually influencing and conditioning a child.
Offline grooming can be even more difficult to recognise because the groomer is often someone the child already knows and trusts, such as a neighbour, relative, family friend, teacher, coach, or mentor. Contrary to popular belief, groomers are not always strangers.
Grooming is typically a slow and calculated process, often beginning with seemingly harmless interactions before escalating into manipulation and abuse. It frequently involves providing special attention, praise, or gifts, treating the child as “mature” to make them feel valued, and gradually gaining the trust of parents or caregivers. Over time, the groomer may isolate the child from friends and supportive family members, shift communication across multiple platforms to avoid detection, and create an environment of secrecy reinforced by emotional pressure, threats, or guilt. In many cases, the child is made to believe that they are responsible for what is happening, further deepening the control.
What often begins as entirely non-sexual behaviour may gradually progress into sexual conversations, the sharing of images, or even physical meetings. Grooming does not follow a rigid sequence, yet it commonly involves targeting vulnerable or isolated children, building trust with both the child and sometimes the family, isolating the child from protective relationships, gradually normalising sexual content or behaviour, and ultimately maintaining control through shame, fear, or coercion.
For parents, vigilance is critical. It is important to regularly monitor children’s interactions, both online and offline. Sudden behavioural changes, increased secrecy, withdrawal, fear, or an unusual attachment to a particular individual may all serve as warning signs. While it is relatively straightforward to teach younger children about “good touch” and “bad touch” in schools, it is significantly more challenging to make adolescents, irrespective of gender, aware of the subtle emotional manipulation and psychological conditioning employed by groomers.
India does not yet have a law that directly defines or criminalises child grooming. Child sexual abuse is largely addressed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO). Sections 11(iv) and (vi) deal with sexual harassment, including repeated contact and enticement through electronic means. Further, Section 67B(c) of the Information Technology Act, 2008 penalises the online enticement of children for sexually explicit purposes. However, the term grooming is not explicitly recognised within the statutory framework, reflecting a significant legal gap.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has defined child online grooming as building an emotional connection with a child to gain trust for sexual abuse or exploitation, and it has repeatedly called for amendments to POCSO to include a specific offence of cyber-grooming. In 2016, UNICEF, in its report on Child Online Protection in India, highlighted serious legal and regulatory gaps, including the absence of clear terminology and the lack of defined responsibility for online intermediaries to protect children.
According to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), one in four teenagers receives unwanted sexual messages online. In 2020 alone, 68,000 cases of self-generated child sexual abuse imagery were confirmed, with 80% of victims aged between 11 and 13 years. Nearly half of this content was created through grooming via webcams or live streaming, a sharp and deeply concerning increase compared to previous years.
Grooming is often misunderstood and frequently confused with child trafficking. While the two are distinct, they are also closely interconnected. Grooming is often the method, while trafficking is the outcome. Traffickers frequently groom children first, making them feel loved, valued, or secure, before ultimately exploiting them for sexual, labour, or criminal purposes.
In some cases, child grooming may involve paedophiles, but it is important to approach this issue without misconceptions. Paedophilia is a psychiatric disorder (a paraphilia) characterised by a persistent sexual attraction to prepubescent children. However, not all cases of child grooming involve paedophilia. Of particular concern are predatory paedophiles, individuals who actively act on such attraction. These offenders deliberately seek out, groom, manipulate, and exploit children for their own sexual gratification. Their behaviour is criminal, abusive, and profoundly harmful, often involving calculated strategies such as identifying vulnerable children, building trust, isolating them from protective adults, and fostering emotional or psychological dependency through deception, secrecy, and coercion.
Prevention is better than cure, yet current Indian laws are largely reactive rather than preventive. Preventing such offences requires vigilance, awareness, and responsible parenting, which remain the most effective safeguards against grooming. Parents must spend meaningful time with their children, as this helps build trust and encourages open communication. Equally important is educating children about grooming and its risks. In such cases, awareness, vigilance, and early intervention remain the strongest and most effective lines of defence.
(Dr Pyali Chatterjee is an associate professor and head of the department of Law at ICFAI University, Chhattisgarh)
