THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Police have prepared a database of active viewers of child sex abuse materials in the state as part of its crackdown under Operation P-Hunt aimed at curbing the menace.
Spearheaded by the Counter Child Sexual Exploitation Centre of Kerala Police, dossiers have been prepared on 350 people, who are regularly uploading/downloading child abuse materials on darknet sites and encrypted social media platforms.
Of the 350 put under surveillance, more than half have been arraigned in similar cases, while the rest have so far managed to evade the police dragnet, said highly placed sources.The state police of late have tightened vigil on those engaged in sale and watching of child pornographic materials and conducted a series of raids and arrests. Aided by sophisticated image and video comparison software and other cyber tools, some of them provided by Interpol, the police have been mounting 24x7 surveillance on cyber activities of those who are included in the watch list.
“The digital footprints of those people are being monitored closely. Many of them have cases for similar offences committed in the past. Yet, it’s not wise to think that they would leave behind the habit that easily. So we are tracking their cyber footprints. This is part of our sustained efforts to keep the heat on those dealing with child sex abuse materials,” said ADGP Manoj Abraham, who heads the police’s Cyberdome as well as Operation P-Hunt.
Meanwhile, technical experts in state police observed that the habitual offenders are adapting to new cyber tools used by the law enforcement agencies and are managing to evade detection. “Many of the offenders in our watch list are formatting their electronic gadgets frequently and that’s hampering our efforts to trace them,” said Cyberdome sources.The police cyber team, meanwhile, is also scrutinising chatrooms and encrypted sites where suspected trade of locally generated child abuse materials are taking place. Police had earlier detected that generation of local child abuse content had increased during Covid-induced lockdown period.