Arrests after Kerala police uncover child sex ring

A police operation in Kerala code named P-Hunt led to suspects after social media platforms WhatsApp and Telegram were used to circulate child pornographic material.

Thiruvananthapuram: At least 28 persons have been arrested and 370 cases have been registered by the Kerala police as part of Operation P-Hunt against child pornography. According to the police, the videos were shared using the social media applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram. Those who have been arrested are mostly associated with the IT sector, police said.

Manoj Abraham, Additional Director General of Police, Thiruvanthapuram Range, said that while checking the chats received from the devices seized, there were indications that many were involved in child trafficking.

These include videos of children between the age of 5 and 16. It was found that the footage was found and erased using modern technology. The devices were also found to be formatted once every three days. Police have also seized 429 devices, including phones, hard disks, memory cards, laptops, which are used to store and share pornographic content.

Read: 8 employees of Gwalior University terminated for watching porn

A similar operation was carried out by the Kerala Police in December last year and cases and arrests were recorded at that time also. So far close to 500 people have been nabbed through Operation P-hunt.

Demand for child pornography surged during COVID-19 lockdown: India Child Protection Fund

According to the India Child Protection Fund (ICPF), ever since the COVID-19 lockdown was enforced in the country there has been an alarming rise in child pornography activity. According to a report titled 'Child Sexual Abuse Material in India,' the overall demand for child pornography was an average of five million per month in 100 cities on the public web during December 2019, which has now spiked.

The report shows up to a 200 per cent increase in demand for ''violent content'' in connection with children. Metro cities like New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai, besides many Tier II and capital cities, which are seeing a sharp increase in coronavirus cases, have been red-flagged by the December study as hotspots for child pornography.