LUDHIANA MAN SENTENCED TO 3-YEAR IMPRISONMENT, RS 10K FOR TRANSMITTING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CONTENT VIA FACEBOOK

CHANDIGARH, November 23:

          The Hon’ble District and Sessions Court SAS Nagar sentenced a Ludhiana-based Man to three years of rigorous imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 10000 for transmitting child pornographic content through Facebook Messenger. The accused has been identified as Anuj Kumar, a resident of Village Sahnewal in Ludhiana.

          As per the information, following the Cyber Tipline regarding transmission of child pornographic content received on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children (CCPWC) Unit of the Punjab State Cyber Crime Cell had initiated investigations into the matter which revealed that the suspect had transmitted video clip of child pornography through Facebook messenger on 27-11-2020.

          Following this, Case FIR No. 18 dated 18.09.2021 was registered under section 67-B of the IT Act at Police Station State Cyber Crime, Punjab for uploading/transmitting child pornography content.

          During the course of the investigation, technical details including IP addresses were sought from various Internet Service providers and Social Media platforms, which led to tracing the identity of the accused. The accused was arrested on January 13, 2022, and the Mobile phone used to commit the offence was recovered from his possession.

          DIG Cyber Crime Nilambari Jagadale informed that publishing or transmitting material in any electronic form which depicts children engaged in sexually explicit act or conduct or creates text or digital images, collects, seeks, browses, downloads, advertises, promotes, exchanges or distributes material in any electronic form depicting children in obscene or indecent or sexually explicit manner is a punishable act with the provision of upto five years imprisonment and a fine which may extend to Rs 10 lakh rupees.

          She also exhorted parents to talk openly with their children about their online activities, allow children to use screens and devices under their supervision, keep check on children’s online friends and teach them to keep their location private.

          Meanwhile, the CCPWC is a special unit established to prevent and counter cyber crimes against Women and Children.