Crackdown Against Child Pornography: 105 Arrested And 213 FIRs Registered in Maharashtra During Pandemic

MUMBAI: In the last 18 months, the Maharashtra police have arrested 105 people and registered 213 FIRs in the state for child pornography and trafficking. In connection with this, a 29-year-old chef from Goa was recently arrested.

According to Maharashtra Cyber Department statistics, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has provided the state police with 15,255 tips.

According to statistics, Pune received 5,699 tip-offs in the last 18 months, followed by Mumbai (4,496), Thane (364), and Nagpur (302). Nagpur had the most cases (38), followed by Pune (16), Pimpri-Chinchwad (15), Nashi City (13) and Mumbai (11).

The Maharashtra Cyber Department launched Operation Blackface in December 2019 to combat Child sexual abuse and child pornography. According to officials, tiplines reports are generated through a collaboration between India’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and the United States’ National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). NCRB sends digital logs of such violators to state police, who then forward them to the appropriate police station for action.

Each state and union territory was assigned a nodal officer by the NCRB. The IGP is the nodal officer in Maharashtra. “The NCMEC monitors social media platforms to track child pornographers’ IP addresses. This is communicated to the NCRB, which takes appropriate action. This has resulted in the successful prosecution of child pornographers,” said a home department official.

The police have also asked parents to keep an eye on their children when they are using the internet. “Spend time online with your children so that they can learn appropriate online behaviour from you. Children’s computers/tabs should be kept in a location where parents can monitor them. Monitor time spent on smartphones or tablets and look for patterns,” a police officer said.