Punjab Police bust online child pornography racket, one arrested

In a massive operation Punjab Polices Cybercrime Division has arrested one person and identified 54 suspects involved in viewing transmitting and distributing child sexual abuse material CSAM using various online platformsThe arrested accused is a resident of Ramsra Fazilka Police teams have seized electronic devices following standard procedures with proper hash values recorded An FIR has been registered under Section 67B of the IT Act at the Cyber Police Station posted Director General of Police Punjab Gaurav Yadav on Thursday39 devices were seized from different suspects during the operation and sent for forensic analysis Further investigation is ongoing to identify and dismantle the racket The development came close on the heels of the judgement passed by the Supreme Court clarifying that viewing possessing and not reporting CSAM content is punishable under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act POCSO ActCSAM refers to any content depicting or exploiting minors in a sexual manner including photos videos or media which is illegal to produce distribute or possess causing longlasting harm to victims and considered a severe form of child exploitation due to the lasting impact it has on victimsThe arrested accused has been identified as Vijaypal a resident of Ramsra in Fazilka Police teams have also seized electronic devices following standard procedures with proper hash values recorded An FIR has been registered under Section 67B of the Information Technology IT Act at the Cyber Police Station in this regardDGP Gaurav Yadav said that following the Cyber Tiplines regarding transmission of CSAM content received from the Ministry of Home Affairs MHA the State Cyber Crime Division in coordination with CPsSSPs launched a special operation to apprehend individuals involved in viewing transmitting and distributing such contentHe said that in the first phase of the operation as many as 54 suspects have been identified across Punjab while one person found selling and sharing CSAM using Instagram and Telegram has been arrested from FazilkaThe DGP said that Police teams have seized 39 devices from different suspects during the operation and are being sent for forensic analysis Further investigations are underway to identify and apprehend more offenders involved in such heinous crimes he addedSharing more details ADGP Cybercrime V Neeraja said that the operation which was meticulously coordinated by SP Cybercrime Jashandeep Gill is part of Punjabs efforts to combat online child abuse The operation is still ongoing and more arrests are expected in the coming days she addedShe said that under the current law viewing distributing or storing CSAM is a criminal offence under 67 B IT Act 2000 read with section 15 of the POCSO Act and is punishable with up to five years of imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 10 lakhMeanwhile the Punjab Police has Cyber Crime Police Stations in all 28 districts and Commissionerates which are equipped with Cyber investigation amp Technical support units CI amp TSUs to investigate Cybercrimes For further assistance or to report CSAM people can contact the State Cyber Crime Division or local District Cyber Crime Police StationThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever