The online child sexual abuse cases, allegedly linked to organised sex rackets being operated from different countries, raised many eyebrows in the State.
Child rights activists expressed concern over the cases pertaining to sexual abuse of child and demanded that a strict vigil be maintained on the banned groups, porn websites and stern action against be taken the culprits.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), along with the Delhi police, registered a case against one T. Mohan Krishna, a resident of Yashoda Nagar in Tirupati, and his accomplices in connection with similar offence. They booked a similar case against another person from Kanekal and seized laptops, mobile phones and other electronic gadgets on Tuesday.
The Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention/Investigation (OCSAE), a special unit of the CBI, said that Mohan Krishna, the owner of a cyber cafe, was arrested on Wednesday, and he would be produced before the court.
During the investigation, it was revealed that paedophiles were allegedly trapping minors for pornography. The accused were allegedly sexually exploiting children and uploading the videos on to various banned websites and social media platforms.
Speaking to The Hindu on Wednesday, Director General of Police (DGP) D. Gautam Sawang said the police had registered a few cases pertaining to online pornography and cybercrimes. “The Andhra Pradesh Police will cooperate with the CBI in the probe into the online child sexual abuse cases, which has links to foreign courtries,” Mr. Sawang said.
The police are now investigating how the accused trapped children, since how long they had been uploading the porn videos, details of the victims, details of other accused in such cases. Investigation officers are trying to find out the details of the websites and groups to which the videos were sent.
Child Rights Advocacy Foundation (CRAF) State programme director P. Francis Thambi appealed to the State government to act tough on the banned websites and social media platforms.
“The government should keep a vigil on online child trafficking in Andhra Pradesh and its neighbouring States,” Mr. Francis said.
‘Awareness needed’
K. Sudha Rani, of the Crasa NGO, which is working on child rights, said that more awareness programmes should be organised to protect children from sexual abuse. State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) former member V. Gandhi Babu said children were getting easy access to cellphones and laptops and urged the parents to monitor the activities of their wards.
