A shocking case of paedophilia in the Indian state of Kerala, is sparking outrage on Twitter. Yesterday, 47 people, including a minor and a doctor, were arrested across the state, for allegedly sharing child pornography on the darknet, during India’s COVID-19 lockdown.
Reportedly, Kerala police's team for Countering Child Sexual Exploitation (CCSE) detected a spike in online activity from the state seeking the child abuse material, particularly on the dark net, during this time.
Noticing the spike, and after making careful observations, the team apparently swung into action, and carried out the raids under its Operation P-Hunt 20.1, according to Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Manoj Abraham.
Reportedly, nine people were arrested from Kollam district, while five each were held from Ernakulam and Palakkad districts, and four each from Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode districts. Three each from Kannur, Alappuzha and Kottayam districts were arrested while two each from Pathanamthitta, Malappuram, Thrissur, Kasaragod, and Wayanad. And, there was one arrest from Idukki district.
According to local news website, mathrubhumi.com: “A doctor and a 16-year-old boy was also arrested in relation with the case from the district. The teenager had received and circulated the videos and photos through Telegram application.”
Over 140 electronic devices were seized from the raid.
Abraham said: “The most distressing part was that many of the videos and pictures appear to be those of local children in age group of six to 15.”
According to him, in most of the videos, the children were abused by someone they knew, including family members. "Many of the videos we seized as evidence showed children, who appeared to be locals of the state, being sexually exploited. All those videos appeared to be shot in recent times. We have already launched probes to find the source of these videos," Abraham said.
The police had mobilised 117 teams, and at least 89 cases were registered. Details of more people involved in circulating the images and videos are being further collected.
It is also suspected that many more people were involved in the trafficking of children also, as there are many chats to this effect in their devices, according to reports.
A similar trend was found in porn groups operating over WhatsApp and Telegram and number of such groups has increased during the COVID-19 lockdown period, the police official added.
The use of malwares to activate the webcams of victims to steal information of children has also been reported in many parts of India.
As per the current law, viewing, distributing or storing of any child pornographic is a criminal offence and can result in up to five years imprisonment and a fine up to Rs1,000,000 (Dh48,625).
The CCSE unit for Kerala police was constituted in January with special emphasis on preventing online child exploitation and pornography on the net. The team operates in close contact with the INTERPOL-Crimes against Children Unit and the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC).
Kerala police also urged people to help identify such channels or groups that spread child sex-related content and urged the public to inform the Hi-Tech Crime Enquiry Cell, Cyberdome or Cyber cells at the earliest.
