A steely resolve

Police chief Manoj Abraham received an award on behalf of Kerala Police at an Interpol conference in France for the work done by them to fight the menace of child pornography        

By Shevlin Sebastian 

Manoj Abraham, Additional Director-General of Police was feeling upbeat. He has just returned after participating in the 37th Interpol specialist group on crime against children in Lyon, France. More than 250 experts from 70 countries took part. In his speech, he explained that the Kerala Police Cyberdome had a campaign called Operation P-Hunt to ferret out paedophiles, administrators of porn groups and makers of films. In the past eight months, the police were able to register 38 cases and arrest 650 men through the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences and IT Acts. Manoj got sustained applause. “These figures were unimaginable for them,” he says. 

And the organisers were so happy they gave a prize to recognise the superlative efforts of the Kerala Police. It was presented by the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children. On the plaque it was printed: In recognition of your outstanding leadership in protecting children all over the world’.  

It had been an enlightening four days for the police officer. “I also experienced a wrenching feeling after listening to the speeches,” says Manoj, who is a father of three young boys. “There were cases where paedophiles were waiting for a child to be born. They want to do sex with infants and children till the age of 15. It is a sickness. There were cases where fathers had raped their daughters. Grandfathers had raped granddaughters. One man raped his daughter as well as his granddaughter.” 

What impressed Manoj at the conference was the resolve shown by the West. “They said we will fight till a child can live as a child,” says Manoj. “It is their determination that impressed me. The governments, as well as private companies, are spending millions of dollars on developing software to identify these people. And when they saw our efforts they said they would give the software to us for free.” 

Because of their stringent attitude as well as tough laws, many Western paedophiles travel to the East and other developing countries to get sex. In a place like the Philippines, in exchange for money, they can do the deed without any fear of the police or local society, who turn a blind eye to what is happening. “They also go to tourist places where they can hide in the presence of many visitors,” says Manoj. “So Kerala is an attractive destination for them. Which is why we are on high alert all the time.” 

Meanwhile, the demand for online child sex videos is insatiable. The police chief says it is mostly done using the mobile phone. “And it is usually somebody close to the child -- parents, siblings or relatives,” says Manoj. “Around 70 per cent is within the household. And the rest are from the immediate vicinity. Very rarely are children kidnapped for filming. It would be as low as 5 percent.”  

What was an eye-opener for Manoj was to realise that what he experienced in Kerala was what law enforcement faced everywhere. “So, even in the West there are instances of fathers raping their daughters and this is also happening here,” he says. “Education or no education, rich or poor, sexual crimes against children are happening everywhere. And so, there has to be a global effort to finish off this menace.” 

Boxes: 

Transmission of Child Sexual Abuse Materials 

Dark Net 

Social Media --  Telegram, Whatsapp, Omegle and Chatzy (anonymous chats)

File Hosting Services - Drop Box, Google Drive  

Cyberdom Police Findings

In Kerala, child pornographic content is shared through a Telegram Channel named Butterfly

The administrator is called ‘MLPM’. He was managing 35 porn groups. The total number of members was 38000.

Police Cyberdom Partnerships

Five Academic Institutions

Six Government agencies  

12 NGOs

Students

Banks 

Kerala State Mission 

800 ethical hackers

250 mobile technicians 

(The New Indian Express, Kerala editions)