Punjab Police Arrest 2, Identify 33 In Online Child Sexual Abuse Crackdown

Chandigarh:  Punjab police’s Cybercrime Division on Friday claimed to have arrested two individuals and identified 33 suspects involved in viewing, transmitting and distributing Child Sexual Exploitative and Abusive Material (CSEAM) using various online platforms.

Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Gaurav Yadav, said that the operation, codenamed CSEAM-4, conducted on Thursday, spanned 40 locations across 18 districts and three police Commissionerates following actionable cyber tip-lines from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Notably, Supreme Court in a judgement had clarified that viewing, possessing and not reporting CSEAM content is punishable under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act; CSEAM 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 long-lasting harm to victims and considered a severe form of child exploitation due to the lasting impact it has on victims.

Those arrested have been identified as Akash Babu, a resident of Rajasthani Colony in Khanna and Harpreet Singh, a resident of village Burmajra in Morinda, Rupnagar, he said and added that the State Cyber Crime Cell analysed digital evidence from platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram to track offenders.

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He said that during the operation, 33 suspects were identified across Punjab and the raids led to the registration of two First Information Reports (FIRs) and the seizure of 34 mobile phones, which have been sent for forensic analysis to recover deleted data, with more arrests anticipated, he said.

Stating that while the accused Akash Babu was not only viewing CSEAM content but was also sharing the content in other groups, another accused Harpreet was allegedly blackmailing a victim to share nude pictures and has been sexually abusing minor children, police said.