Inspite
of repeated efforts by the Government and the passing of several
legal jurisdictions, India still continues to be one of the biggest
contributor and consumer of child abuse contents. But latest data
published by India Child Protection Fund (ICPF) has revealed an even
more disturbing trend, especially as the nation continues battling
the pandemic COVID-19 amidst a tight lockdown since March 23.
According
to the India Child Protection Fund (ICPF), the online data monitoring
websites are showing an increase in demand for searches like ‘Child
Porn’, ‘Sexy Child’ and ‘Teen Sex Videos’. Data from
Pornhub, the world’s largest pornography website in the world, also
reveals that traffic from India has increased by 95% between March 24
& March 26 2020, as compared to their average traffic, pre-corona
virus, the ICPF claimed.
The
report reveals a 200% spike in demand for content which displays
children ‘choking’, ‘bleeding’ and ‘tortured’. Metro
cities like New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai, besides many Tier
II and capital cities, which are seeing a sharp increase in corona
virus cases, have been red-flagged by the study as hotspots for child
pornography, the ICPF said. ICPF has warned that millions of
paedophiles have reverted to online consumption, making the internet
unsafe for children. It added that without stringent action, this
could result in a drastic rise in sexual crimes against children. The
report cites Europol, United Nations, ECPAT reports which say that
children are now more prone to online grooming and sexual coercion,
and also refers to recent news of the ‘Childline India’ helpline
reporting more than 92000 SOS calls asking for protection from abuse
and violence in 11 days of the lockdown.
A
crackdown has already been initiated in India, most of which involves
using technology to track unlawful content, especially on social
media platforms. At the same time, organizations like ICPF are
stepping up to warn authorities of such dangerous trends at a time
like this.
REFERENCES
-
Deccan Herald Article on April 20(https://www.deccanherald.com/national/online-search-for-child-pornography-escalates-after-lockdown-in-india-827602.html)
-
Vice.com article on 14 April 2020 by Pallavi Pundir(https://www.vice.com/en_in/article/jgez3x/disturbing-child-porn-trends-from-india-during-lockdown)
AGNI DASH
