"We can build, or architect, or code cyberspace to protect values that we believe are fundamental. Or we can build, or architect, or code cyberspace to allow those values to disappear. There is no middle ground." - Lawrence Lessig.
As humans, our only duty to survive is fueled by our aspiration for innovation. As we progress towards newer avenues of sci-fi tech, we surround ourselves with more and more intricately woven problems of technology. With our analysis, we can stipulate the fact that it is the technological innovations that pose new legal challenges rather than any other factor.[i] That can’t be undone, but they must be dealt with in a tacit and urgent manner.
The metaverse is not a futuristic fantasy; it is a present reality. In India, it is a new social frontier, built on a foundation of over 450 million gamers and projected to grow at an explosive rate of over 50% annually. This new "place" is rapidly becoming a dominant social hub. But there is a demographic reality we cannot ignore: globally, nearly 80% of metaverse users are under the age of 16.[ii] Platforms like Roblox[iii] and Fortnite, immensely popular in India, are not just frequented by children, but they are, in large part, for children.[iv]
With this mass migration of our most vulnerable population to a new, unregulated territory comes the shadow of human conduct. A new vector for harm has emerged: virtual sexual assault.[v] The offence should not be confused with "toxic chat" or "online bullying." It is an immersive, embodied act of violation,[vi] and it is a crime for which our laws are utterly unprepared. Our legal code, built for a physical world, seems like a 19th-century key for a 21st-century lock. This "legal silence" is not neutral, but a de facto grant of impunity to perpetrators, and it represents a profound failure to protect.
Defining the New Frontier
To analyse this legal problem, we must first be clear about what we are discussing. The terms are often confused, but the distinction is critical.
i. Virtual Reality (VR) is the technology, i.e., the how. It is the headset, the controllers, and the haptic feedback suit that immerse a user's senses in a digital environment. It is the gateway.
ii. The Metaverse is the place, in other words, the where. It is the persistent, collective, and interactive digital "universe" where users co-exist and interact as avatars.
The crime we are analysing, "virtual rape," is the act. It is a non-consensual sexual act perpetrated on a user's digital avatar. This is not a crime against "pixels" or property. As documented in harrowing user accounts, it is an event of simulated restraint, groping, or forced sexual simulation against a user's embodied self, an act experienced as a profound personal violation.[vii]
The Core Legal Dilemma & A Tale of Two Touches
This is where the law becomes complicated. The viability of a prosecution for "virtual rape" in India today depends entirely on how the assault is committed. It is a tale of two scenarios: one our law can (and should) incorporate, and one where it tragically fails.
First, there is the "easy case," involving haptic technology. A perpetrator in the metaverse attacks a child's avatar, and the virtual act triggers the child's haptic feedback suit to apply physical pressure or vibration to the child's real-world body. Here, the legal path is clear. Our judiciary, in the landmark case of Satish Ragde v. State of Maharashtra[viii] (affirmed by the Supreme Court in 2021), gave a purposive interpretation to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. The court rejected a "narrow and pedantic" interpretation of Section 7 ("sexual assault"), ruling that the actus reus of "touching" does not require direct "skin-to-skin" contact. "Mediated contact", i.e., groping through a layer of clothing, was deemed sufficient.[ix]
A haptic suit is just a more advanced "intermediary." The law, following the Satish Ragde methodology, should not care if the touch is mediated by fabric or by code. The actus reus is met. The crime is complete.
But this brings us to the "hard case," which is far more common. This is the "pure" virtual assault, and simply put, an attack on an avatar with no haptic feedback. The victim sees and hears everything. They are cornered, held down by other avatars, and violated. And here, our law fails completely. The actus reus of "touching," even as expanded by Satish Ragde, cannot be found. Nothing has physically touched the victim's body.[x]
A judge, bound by the text of the law, simply cannot convict. To do so would be to "create" a new offence, violating the constitutional bedrock of Article 20(1), nulla poena sine lege—no punishment without law. The second case, with respect to the first, is a legal lacuna.
The Legislative Lacuna: A Failure of Proportionality
This "hard case" exposes a gaping hole in our legal framework, and existing laws are manifestly inadequate to fill it.
i. POCSO Section 11 (Sexual Harassment): To prosecute a virtual rape as "sexual harassment" (which covers gestures or words) is a gross failure of the Principle of Proportionality. It equates an act that causes proven, PTSD-like neurological trauma with an offensive gesture. A three-year maximum punishment is not a proportionate or just response to the gravity of the harm, and it fails to recognise the violative, non-consensual act of the crime.
ii. IT Act, 2000 (Section 67B): The law, as mentioned, is fundamentally misaligned. It is designed to police obscene content and publications. Virtual rape is not a "publication"; it is a real-time event of personal, embodied assault. It is a crime of conduct, not content.
This analysis confirms a legislative vacuum. Neither statute can appropriately address this sui generis form of harm. The law's failure to provide a proportional remedy is not just an oversight; it is an injustice that compels the creation of a new, calibrated offence.
The Jurisprudential Mandate: From "Bodily" to "Embodied" Integrity
The legal problem is clear: the actus reus of "touching" is a 20th-century barrier in a 21st-century world. The policy push, therefore, cannot be to bend old laws until they break. It must be to create a new one, grounded in a new legal doctrine.
The law has always protected "bodily integrity." The time has come to extend this protection to "embodied integrity." As neuroscience confirms, through the technology of "presence" and "embodiment," the brain maps the avatar onto its own "body schema." An assault on this embodied avatar is, to the brain, an assault on the person. The harm is not "virtual"; it is a "functionally indistinguishable" neurological event.[xi]
This provides the jurisprudential mandate. The Satish Ragde case provides the methodology, a mandate to reject "narrow and pedantic" interpretations that "defeat the purpose of the Act."[xii] The purpose of the POCSO Act is to protect children from sexual harm, regardless of the vector.
Therefore, the only viable policy solution is the creation of a new, sui generis offence within the POCSO Act. This new section must:
i. Define a New Actus Reus: The "guilty act" must be redefined for this new locus. It should be conceptualised as: "Whoever, using any computer resource or interactive digital medium, intentionally perpetrates an immersive sexual act upon the virtual embodiment (avatar) of a child..."
ii. Maintain Mens Rea: The "guilty mind" must be proven, requiring the established standard of "...with sexual intent."
iii. Address the Lacuna: The law must explicitly bridge the gap, stating: "The absence of 'physical contact' as defined in Section 7 shall not be a defence to a charge under this section if the elements of an immersive act and severe psychological or neurological effect are established."
A Proactive Policy for a New Reality
Nearly 49% of female VR users have suffered sexual harassment in virtual harassment, including the landmark UK investigation in a virtual gang-rape of a victim under 16 years of age.[xiii] By creating a new offence calibrated for this specific harm, one graver than Section 11 harassment but distinct from Section 9 physical penetration, Parliament can restore proportionality to the law.
The alternative is to wait for the "first prosecution impossibility", for a child to suffer this devastating harm, only to have the legal system declare itself powerless. Child-centric justice demands a proactive stance. The law must evolve with society, and when a new technology creates a new weapon, the law must forge a new shield. We must act now to ensure that when a child's "virtual" self is violated, the "real" justice system is ready to respond.
Disclaimer: Kindly note that the views and opinions expressed are of the author(s), not Law Colloquy.
[i] shivamvirli, How Technology Will Change the Legal World | LSBF Singapore Campus, London School of Business and Finance Singapore Campus | LSBF (Jan. 14, 2021), https://www.lsbf.edu.sg/blog/accountancy-and-finance/how-technology-will-change-the-legal-world.
[ii] Roblox Demographics Statistics 2025, https://www.takeaway-reality.com/post/roblox-demographics-statistics (last visited Nov. 15, 2025).
[iii] Roblox - Investor Relations, https://ir.roblox.com/overview/default.aspx (last visited Nov. 15, 2025).
[v] Patsy Stevenson, Sexual Assault in the Metaverse, Byline Times (Jan. 9, 2024), https://bylinetimes.com/2024/01/09/sexual-assault-in-the-metaverse/.
[viii] IJLLR Journal, Case Analysis On Satish Ragde V/S State Of Maharashtra, IJLLR Journal (Jan. 10, 2022), https://www.ijllr.com/post/case-analysis-on-satish-ragde-v-s-state-of-maharashtra.
[x] Understanding Virtual/sssDigital Rape: Navigating Consent and Accountability in the Digital Age, Centre for Law & Policy Research, https://clpr.org.in/blog/understanding-virtual-digital-rape-navigating-consent-and-accountability-in-the-digital-age/ (last visited Nov. 16, 2025).
[xi] Giulia Melis & Merylin Monaro, Sexual Crimes in Metaverse: New Frontiers in Forensic Psychology and Legal Challenges, 5 J. Metaverse 124 (2025).
[xiii] Virtual Gang Rape Reported in the Metaverse; Probe Underway - The Hindu, https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/virtual-gang-rape-reported-in-the-metaverse-probe-underway/article67705164.ece (last visited Nov. 16, 2025).
