News Analysis India

Tag: Crimes Against Children

  • CBI searches in 14 states in connection with child sexual abuse case

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The CBI on Tuesday started a coordinated search operation at 76 locations in 14 states against 83 people allegedly involved in sexual abuse of children and posting and circulating abuse material on the webspace, officials said.

    The central agency registered 23 separate cases on November 14 against 83 people allegedly involved in online child sexual abuse and exploitation, they said.

    Searches are being conducted in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, CBI spokesperson RC Joshi said.

  • CBI raids 77 locations, detains 10 for posting, circulating online child sexual abuse material

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: In its biggest pan-India crackdown on peddlers of online child sexual exploitation material (CSEM), the CBI on Tuesday carried out coordinated raids at 77 locations in 14 states and detained 10 accused for allegedly posting and circulating the illicit content on the Internet.

    Arrest formalities are going on for the 10 accused who have been detained, officials said adding that the number of arrested people may go up as the probe continues.

    “It was alleged that various syndicates of individuals based in different parts of India and foreign countries were indulging in circulating, storing and viewing CSEM through various social media platforms/groups. It was also alleged that persons were disseminating CSEM by way of sharing links, videos, pictures, texts, posts and hosting of such content on social media groups/platforms and third-party storage/hosting platforms,” CBI Spokesperson RC Joshi said.

    The massive operation started on November 14, i.e. children’s day, with the registration of 23 separate FIRs against 83 accused which continued till the next day.

    The FIRs were based on inputs provided by a special CBI unit, Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention/ Investigation (OCSAE), which tracks and monitors posting, circulation and downloads of CSEM on the Internet.

    Under the scanner were over 50 social media groups having more than 5,000 alleged offenders sharing child sexual abuse material with some accused based in countries like Pakistan, Canada, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, the US, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt and the UK.

    “Many of these groups also have involvement of foreign nationals. It was initially learnt that there may be involvement of nationals of around 100 countries….The CBI is coordinating with sister agencies through formal and informal channels. Searches and development of further leads is underway and the investigation is continuing,” Joshi said.

    Over 400 CBI officers drawn from agency’s different offices were kept ready on early Tuesday morning to launch the raids at premises of the accused.

    After getting a go-ahead from the top brass, teams swooped down at 77 locations across India.

    The searches were spread across Tirupati and Kanekal in Andhra Pradesh; Delhi; Konch Jalaun, Mau, Chandauli, Varanasi, Ghazipur, Siddharthanagar, Moradabad, Noida, Jhansi, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar in UP; Junagarh, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar in Gujarat.

    They were also carried out in Sangrur, Malerkotla, Hoshiarpur, Patiala in Punjab; Patna, Siwan in Bihar; Yamuna Nagar, Panipat, Sirsa, Hisar in Haryana; Bhadrak, Jajapur, Dhenkanal in Odisha; Tiruvalure, Coimbatore, Namkkal, Salem and Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu.

    The searches were also held in Ajmer, Jaipur, Jhunjhunu and Nagaur in Rajasthan; Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh; Jalgaon, Salwad and Dhule in Maharashtra; Korba in Chhattisgarh and Solan in Himachal Pradesh, Joshi said.

    At Dhenkanal, the CBI team was attacked by a mob that brandished lathis as it objected to the raid on an accused.

    The team called the town police for help which dispersed the crowd.

    The accused reportedly accepted being part of a WhatsApp group on which he was sharing adult content sourced from the Internet and he was being paid for it.

    The CBI teams seized a number of electronic gadgets, including mobiles and laptops, allegedly used in dissemination of the illicit content and they would be sent for forensic examination, he said.

    The probe has revealed that some individuals were involved in trading of CSEM material, Joshi said.

    “Globally, the importance of recognising and combating online child sexual abuse has been acknowledged. Every year, a lot of children face abuse which becomes more horrific when online platforms are used. It is a challenge for all stakeholders, including law enforcement agencies. Cooperation amongst law enforcement agencies is paramount for tackling this menace,” he said.

    Joshi said the CBI as a National Central Bureau (Interpol-India) is uniquely placed to coordinate such matters having national and international ramifications.

    “A special unit, OCSAE, was created in the CBI for matters pertaining to online child sexual abuse and exploitation. Apart from coordination with agencies, the unit is undertaking investigation of offences relating to online child sexual abuse and exploitation,” he said.

  • Touching cheeks of child without sexual intent not offence: Bombay High Court

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Touching cheeks of a child without sexual intent would not attract the offence of sexual assault, the Bombay High Court said while granting bail to a 46-year-old man accused of sexually abusing an eight-year-old girl.

    A single bench of Justice Sandeep Shinde on August 27 granted bail to the accused Mohammad Ahmed Ulla arrested on July 2020 by the Rabodi police in the neighbouring Thane district.

    “In my view, touching the cheeks without a sexual intent would not attract the offence of ‘sexual assault’, as defined under Section 7 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act,” the high court said.

    “Primary evaluation of the material on record does not suggest that the applicant allegedly touched the cheeks of the victim with a sexual intent,” it added.

    Justice Shinde, however, clarified in the order that the observations made by him should be construed as the opinion only for bail in this matter and the same shall not in any way influence the trials in other matters.

    According to the prosecution, Ulla allegedly called the girl inside his meat shop where he touched her cheek, opened his shirt, and was about to open his pant.

    A woman, who had seen the accused taking the girl to his shop, went to the spot after growing suspicious.

    An FIR was registered and Ulla was arrested.

    He is presently lodged at the Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai.

    He was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (PPCSOA).

    Ulla in his bail plea said he was falsely implicated in the case by his rivals in business.

    He claimed that he had no criminal antecedents and was running the meat shop and living in that area for since long.

  • Man given death penalty for raping, killing toddler; hearing completed in less than two months

    By PTI

    BAHRAICH: A court here Monday awarded the death penalty to a 30-year-old man for raping and killing a toddler, a case in which the hearing was completed and the judgment delivered in less than two months.

    Additional Sessions Judge (Rape and Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act) Nitin Pandey awarded the punishment to Parashuram (30) for raping and killing the girl at a village in Nanpara area on June 22, Special District Government Counsel- POCSO Act, Sant Pratap Singh told PTI.

    The incident took place when the one-and-a-half-year-old child was sleeping in an open courtyard and the man picked her up and raped her at a deserted school-building nearby.

    According to the details of the case, when the girl’s parents did not find her, they started looking for her and spotted her at the school-building, bleeding profusely.

    The man was also with the victim and was caught by the villagers and handed over to the police.

    The girl was admitted to hospital where she died, the counsel said.

    A case under charges of murder and provisions of the POCSO Act was lodged against the man.

    He tried to escape the police custody while being taken to a court, but was overpowered after being shot in the leg.

    Superintendent of Police Sujata Singh said the police had filed the chargesheet within 28 days.

    Counsel Singh said the court completed the hearing in 10 days and reserved judgement.

  • 15-year-old rape survivor gives birth to dead child in UP’s Ballia

    By PTI

    BALLIA: A 15-year-old girl, who was raped multiple times by a man, gave birth to his dead child, police said Monday, adding the accused has been detained.

    Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajkaran Naiyar said Gopal Patel has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for raping the minor on multiple occasions.

    The girl gave birth to a dead child on July 27, her father said in the complaint.

    Patel used to rape her in absence of her parents and threatened the victim of dire consequences if she told anyone about it, the complaint said.

    The victim’s mother told police that the accused used to tie the girl’s hands and legs and rape her.

    The accused has been detained and a probe in the matter is on, the SP said.

  • Mathura man awarded jail term till last breath for kidnapping and raping stepdaughter

    By PTI

    MATHURA: A special court here awarded a man life imprisonment till last breath for kidnapping and raping his stepdaughter, saying he deserved no leniency as he was the custodian of the girl, a minor when the incident happened eight years ago.

    The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act court judge Amar Singh also imposed a cumulative fine of Rs 2 lakh on convict Saubi.

    “The learned Additional Special Judge POCSO Act, court no 2, Amar Singh also ordered the government would pay Rs 2 lakh to the victim girl in case the convict fails to deposit the fine,” Additional District Government Counsel (ADGC) Subhash Chandra Chaturvedi said.

    Sharing the details about the incident, Chaturvedi said that on February 2, 2013 Saubi kidnapped the girl, who was 15 then, and raped her when her mother had gone to a relative’s place.

    Upon her return, the mother filed a complaint against Saubi, also alleging he stole a motorbike, Rs 1.05 lakh cash and jewellery.

    An FIR was registered under Indian Penal Code sections 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her for marriage) and 376 (rape) on the woman’s complaint.

    Four years after the death of her first husband, the woman had married Shaubi, a resident of Aligarh, expecting him to support the family, the ADGC said.

    After the marriage, they started living together in Karahari village under Surir police station of Mathura district.

    Saubi’s counsel requested the court to take a lenient view of the matter as his client is poor and a first-time offender, the ADGC stated.

    The judge rejected the plea, saying since the accused was the father and the custodian of the girl, what he did was a heinous crime that merited an exemplary punishment.

    The convict also deserved a severe punishment since the girl was less than 16 years of age when he subjected her to the crime, he said.

    The judge then awarded the convict 10 years rigorous punishment and Rs 50,000 fine under section 366 of the IPC, and life imprisonment (till his last breath)) and Rs 1.50 lakh fine under section 376, the ADGC said.

    In case the convict fails to deposit the fine, the government would pay Rs 2 lakh to the victim as compensation, cancelling bail of the convict, the judge ordered.

  • Seven-year-old boy sodomised in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli

    By PTI
    MUZAFFARNAGAR: A seven-year-old boy was allegedly sodomised by a man in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district, police said on Sunday.

    According to a complaint lodged by the minor’s mother, the accused, identified as Wasil, took her son to a secluded place on Saturday and allegedly sodomised him.

    The accused also threatened the minor of dire consequences if he told anyone about the incident, SHO Premvir Rana said.

    A case was registered under relevant sections of the IPC and efforts were underway to nab the accused, he added.

  • MP: Minor made to smoke cigarette and lick shoes, video goes viral

    By PTI
    JABALPUR: A video showing a 17-year-old boy being thrashed, made to smoke a cigarette and lick shoes over a monetary dispute in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh went viral on social media, leading to the arrest of one of the four offenders, police said on Saturday.

    The four, including arrested accused Deepak Passi (20), have been charged with kidnapping and assault, Inspector Sahadev Sahu of Gora Bazar police station said.

    “The incident happened due to a dispute over Rs 2,000. When the victim did not return home on Thursday night, a missing person complaint was filed by his parents. Later the video of the boy being thrashed surfaced,” he said.

    The police’s probe has found that the four accused took the victim to a ground in Nayagaon area, where one of them slapped him multiple times, while another tried to make him smoke a cigarette, and all of them forced him to clean and lick their shoes.

    Passi was arrested two days ago, the official added.

  • Muzaffarnagar horror: Four-year-old raped by stepfather

    By PTI
    MUZAFFARNAGAR: A four-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her 50-year-old stepfather in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district, police said on Friday.

    The alleged incident took place on Thursday evening, Ratanpuri Station House Officer (SHO) Vindhyachal Tiwari said.

    Police have registered a case of rape based on the complaint of the girl’s uncle and arrested her stepfather, the SHO said.

    According to the complaint lodged by the girl’s uncle, the accused took her to a nearby field and raped her.

    Several villagers gathered outside the house of the accused as the information about the incident spread.

    They demanded action against the accused.

    Soon after, police arrested the accused, whom the girl’s mother had married two years ago.

    She is her daughter from the first marriage.

    According to police, the girl’s mother had left her with her stepfather during the lockdown.

  • CBI files chargesheet against UP junior engineer, wife in paedophilia case

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The CBI on Friday filed a chargesheet against a junior engineer in the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department and his wife for allegedly sexually abusing children and circulating explicit videos on the dark web to mint money, officials said.

    The agency also arrested a man from Delhi in connection with the case but is keeping his identity under wraps, they said.

    The accused were produced before a court in Banda.

    In its charge sheet filed before the special court, the CBI presented statements from about 20 victims and reports of digital evidence collected during searches at the residence of Ram Bhuwan, who is currently in judicial custody, the officials said.