New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday busted a child pornography racket in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh that circulated pornographic material on a WhatsApp group.
The CBI registered a case against five boys and arrested the administrator of the group, Nikhil Verma, from Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj district.
“Nikhil Verma was the admin of the group called Kids XXX. He was arrested from Kannauj for circulating child pornographic material on the group which contained 119 foreign nationals from USA, China, Pakistan, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Nigeria,” a senior CBI official said, requesting anonymity.
The agency conducted searches across Delhi, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and seized incriminating material from computers, hard disks and mobile phones.
While child pornography is a non-bailable offence, experts said the system needed to be made more stringent. “In 2008, all cybercrime offences (under the IT Act) —except child pornography, cyberterrorism and breach of protected systems—were made bailable offences. So the offender leaves no digital footprint once he’s caught and released. The laws need to be strengthened further and the police needs to be sensitized to avoid such cases,” said Pawan Duggal, cyber law expert at the Supreme Court.
