21 persons in Kerala arrested for sharing nude pictures of children
In a major crackdown by the Kerala police on Sunday, 21 persons were arrested for sharing nude pictures of children on various social media platforms. According to a statement by the police, a raid was conducted in 12 districts of Kerala. In the raid, which was named as “Operation P hunt”, the police seized various laptops, mobile phones, USB drives and hard disks from 29 locations across the state.
A statement released by Kerala State Police Chief Loknath Behera says that the police managed to track the log details of the persons who were viewing and sharing nude pictures of children with the help of technology. Based on this, the police discovered that 84 individuals and many organised groups were involved in the sharing of such obscene content.
It has been found that such visuals were being shared through various social media platforms such as Facebook, Telegram and WhatsApp and other spaces on the internet. DGP Loknath Behera said that the police will continue their investigations regarding this menace and will engage in more such crackdowns in the coming days.
Following the current raid, 26 cases have been registered so far, while 21 persons were arrested.
Police have confirmed that the raids were conducted in 5 areas in Thiruvananthapuram, 7 areas in Alappuzha, 5 areas in Ernakulam rural, 4 areas each in Thrissur city and Malappuram, 2 areas each in Thrissur rural, Kollam city, Kollam rural and Kozhikode rural.
The raids which were conducted by the Kerala police, was supported by the cyber cell and the hitech cell of the police department, under the supervision of a special department that was formed by the police to prevent sexual violence against children.
Lead by Manoj Abraham, South Zone Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), who took part in these raids, the district police chiefs of various districts had also taken part in the crackdown.
Viewing, collecting and sharing of nude pictures of children is a criminal offence which can lead to five years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10 lakhs.