The Tamil Nadu police will write to internet service providers in the State, asking them to identify and block websites that provide free/paid access to adult/child pornography. Police have intensified action against at least 600 persons who were allegedly in possession of child pornography on their mobile phones and laptops for viewing and circulation.
Additional Director-General of Police (Crime against Women and Children) M. Ravi said though many service providers had blocked access to popular porn websites, it was still possible to view them on some lesser-known sites.
“The law is clear when it comes to child pornography. Section 67(B) of the Information Technology Act provides stringent punishment for publishing, browsing, transmitting child pornography in electronic form. We have observed that there is a clear link between pornography and sexual offences. In at least two rape and murder cases reported in Dindigul and Virudhunagar districts recently, the accused were habitually viewing porn sites and had downloaded scenes on their mobile phones,” he told The Hindu on Tuesday.
Habitual viewers
“If need be, we will work with the service providers in deploying algorithms to detect and delete such content. It would be easy to locate persons who are circulating child pornography. We have already identified 600 suspects, mostly in Chennai city and central zone, who have downloaded and circulated child porn material and alerted the respective city/district police. Another 80 persons who were habitually watching child porn have been identified now,” he said.
While regular information was coming in from Interpol and other central agencies on websites containing child sexual abuse material, people were providing police information about suspects who were habitually accessing or circulating such material. “We will ask the internet service providers to delete any form of obscene content, including adult porn,” Mr. Ravi said.
He said Director-General of Police J.K. Tripathy reviewed the user-friendliness of Kavalan, an SOS app of the Tamil Nadu State Police Master Control Room initiative, which can be used to seek police assistance instantly in emergency situations such as physical exigencies, eve teasing, kidnapping or natural disasters such as floods, earthquake, etc. Digital awareness campaign was being organised to popularise the app, he said.