BENGALURU: When National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) started compiling data on cyber crime for the first time in its report last year, it revealed that a total of 47 cases related to use or storage of child pornography. Owing to the prevalence of dark web and clandestine mobile shops that download such content on phones, the National Crime Records Bureau has launched a web portal to detect such cases with the help of the public.
Child rights activists, maintain that such a portal would assist victims from seeking justice using the online mechanism. Experts also feel that the measure could help in curbing the number of hits secured by child pornographic videos in the Indian sub-continent.The web portal cybercrime.gov.in will allow victims or complainants to report cyber crime. “At present this portal caters to complaints pertaining to online Child Pornography (CP)-Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) or sexually explicit content such as Rape/Gang Rape (CP/RGR) content. The portal also provides an option ofreporting an anonymous complaint, where complainants are not required to disclose their identity,” according to the description of the website.
Based on the complaints filed in the portal - either anonymously or by wanting to track the case - alerts will be issued to the jurisdictional police stations to take up the case.
A complainant wishing to track the case will have to register his mobile number to which alerts will be issued.A Nagarathna, Associate Professor and coordinator, Advanced Centre on Research, Development & Training in Cyber Law and Forensics, said that the circulation and viewing of child pornographic content was a relatively new phenomenon. “With the boom in the use of smartphone devices, cases are being reported. Though some police, such as the Bengaluru City Police have online portals to file cases, the new website will provide pan-India service,” she said.
Though the effectiveness of the website, developed following guidelines issued by the Supreme Court, is yet to be assessed, reporting cases of such nature will relatively be easy, she said.