In what could be bad news for paedophiles, the CBI has set up an Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (OCSAE) Prevention/ Investigation Unit in the national Capital under its Special Crime Zone to proactively check child porn and associated crimes through detailed investigation.
The newly-established specialised unit will collect, collate and disseminate information regarding publication, transmission, creation, collection, seeking, browsing, downloading advertising, promoting, exchanging, distribution of information relating to online child sexual abuse and exploitation and probe related crimes.
The unit will also conduct investigation of such offences covered under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Information Technology Act 2000 and under various other laws.
“Rapid growth of the internet and information & communication tools over the past two decades has created unparalleled opportunities for children and adults alike to learn and explore the world around them. Today, in many countries, these technologies are ubiquitous — permeating every aspect of our lives — personal and professional, individual and social. These technologies have simultaneously created a new dimension, wherein the sexual exploitation of children can multiply, if unchecked.
“Children, every day, all around the world are prone to suffer online sexual abuse and exploitation,” the CBI said in a statement.
Numerous references related to dissemination of CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) are received from Interpol and other national / international organisations. The incidence of online child sexual abuse and exploitation generally transcends international borders. Victims are mostly helpless innocent children, it said.
The territorial jurisdiction of the OCSAE Prevention/Investigation Unit will be throughout India and will help in countering the menace of child porn on the internet and related crimes, officials said.
The unit will collect intelligence not only on those who are allegedly creating and transmitting such material on the internet but also those who are browsing and downloading such material, they said.
The agency had registered a case last month against seven persons in alleged connection with a child pornography case in which they were alleged to be part of various WhatsApp groups involved in the transmission of child sexual abuse material. The information on the international porn group had come from the German embassy in India. The CBI had received information from Germany about the conviction of one Sasche Treppke in that country for sexual abuse of children and distribution of child pornography. The convicted criminal Treppke was a member of 29 WhatsApp groups that were used to share pornographic content. The seven accused in the CBI case were also the members of the groups operated by Treppke and were also sharing such content, according to the CBI FIR.
In February 2018, the CBI had busted an international racket involved in child pornography. The racket was operated through WhatsApp groups and the administrator of the group Nikhil Verma was nabbed. Some of the 119 members of the WhatsApp group hailed from the US, Pakistan, China and Sri Lanka.