Maharashtra Cyber wing, the nodal agency for the state’s cyber security, has started an exercise named “Operation Blackface” to punish those involved in child pornography related activities. So far, it has received 1,680 complaints of child pornography from the state, and of them, in 30 cases the wing has registered first information reports (FIR), and in two cases, the accused were put behind bars. Of the 1,680 complaints (tiplines), almost 600 cases and about 35 per cent are reported from Mumbai.
Of the 25,000 cases across the country, 1,680 were from the state and the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) sent these cases to the Maharashtra Cyber wing for inquiry. According to the officer of the state’s cyber wing, after verification, the cases have been sent to the concerned district commissionarates for registration of offences and further investigation.
Under “Operation Blackface”, the cyber wing has identified regions from where child pornography related content has been transmitted in the last six months. Of the reported 1,680 cases, the locations of 30 places have been registered, which include Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai area Pune, Nashik, Raigad, Kolhapur, Latur, Ahmednagar, Beed, Parbhani, Aurangabad, Bhandara, Nandurbar and Chandrapur.
The National Center of Missing and Exploited children (NCMEC) of America, which deals with child pornography across the world, has recently shared its data with NCRB. The report states that 25,000 cases of suspected child pornography have been uploaded from Indian in the last six months.
NCMEC monitors websites, search engines and social media for child pornography related content. It shares data with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which then shares it with nodal agencies of other countries. NCMEC shares the IP address and locations from where the child pornographic material is accessed and the same is shared with other agencies to nab culprits.
“We are registering offences, mainly under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act sections, against whoever uses child or children for pornographic purpose (14), any person who stores for commercial purposes any material in any form involving a child (15) and any person who fails to report the commission of an offense (21) and under the sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) act and under the Information Technology (IT) act,” said an officer. Maximum cases that have been reported so far are of section 14 of POCSO Act, he added.
During the course of investigation we first verify whether the content is generated by the accused and whether any child is being abused, later we look for whether it is transmitted to whom, In two of the cases registered in Thane and in Pimpri Chinchwad area the accused have been arrested.
