The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a man from Haryana’s Hisar for allegedly raping children and creating, uploading, browsing, collecting, and exchanging child sexual abuse material online, the agency said on Wednesday. The activities of Somnath, the accused, were detected through an Interpol database. The CBI said it detected the child sexual abuse on its own. (X)

“In furtherance to its strong commitment in combating the menace of child sexual exploitation and bring the perpetrators to justice, CBI has arrested the accused from district Hisar, Haryana, on allegations of committing rape, penetrative sexual assault, etc on multiple minor victims,” the CBI said in a statement.

The agency arrested Somnath from his residence in Hisar and recovered incriminating gadgets on Tuesday. It found he allegedly raped, sexually assaulted, threatened and used multiple children for pornography.

The agency said it registered a case on May 29 after detecting Somnath’s activities while examining videos and images on the Interpol’s International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) database.

The ICSE is an intelligence and investigative mechanism that allows investigators to share data on child sexual abuse cases across 70 countries, including India. The database has helped identify 42,300 victims and 18,300 offenders.

The CBI said it detected the child sexual abuse on its own, as the victims or their families did not report the incidents to any law enforcement agency. “Demonstrating qualitative investigative skills, due diligence, and procedural efficiency, CBI detected CSAM [child sexual abuse material] images and videos from the Interpol’s ICSE database…” the CBI said. It added that the material was also linked with the Google-generated cyber tipline reporting on child sexual exploitation and submitted to the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre.

The analysis of the images and videos using cyber forensic tools revealed Somnath’s location and depicted multiple victims of sexual assault and abuse.

Somnath was arrested three months after the CBI in March launched operation “Hawk” to dismantle the cybercrime networks involved in online child sexual exploitation with international linkages based on inputs from the US.

Child sexual abuse is punishable in India under the Prevention of Children from Sexual Exploitation Act, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and the Information Technology Act, which provides for punishment for publishing, browsing, or transmitting child pornography.

In 2018, the Supreme Court asked the government to frame guidelines to eliminate child pornography, rape and gang-rape imageries, videos and sites from content hosting platforms and applications.

An ad-hoc Rajya Sabha committee in February 2020 recommended the identification of the originators of such content. The panel studied the issue of pornography on social media and its effect on children and society.

The internet service providers are mandated to protect children from sexual abuse. The government blocks the websites containing child sexual abuse material based on Interpol’s “worst-of-list,” which the CBI periodically shares.

The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules mandate intermediaries to remove or disable access within 24 hours of receipt of complaints of contents that exposes the private areas of individuals, show them in full or partial nudity or in sexual act or is in the nature of impersonation, including morphed imagery. The complaints about cybercrimes against women and children can be filed on the national cyber portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in).