CBI's special unit for online child sexual abuse registers first case

New Delhi: The CBI's special unit to fight the menace of online child sexual abuse and exploitation has registered its first case and taken it up for investigation recently, officials here said, adding that the case had been registered under the relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and the POCSO Act.

This is the first such case that the Central Bureau of Investigation has registered after it formed a special unit in the Capital to deal with cases of online child sexual abuse in November last year. The agency had made this move a few days after it had received a case from German Police, which implicated several Indian nationals in an international child pornography racket.

The recent case however has been registered under section 67B of the IT Act, which deals with the punishment for publishing child pornographic material and Section 11 read with Section 12 of the POCSO Act, which deals with the sexual harassment of children and the punishment for it. Officials here said that the investigation in the case has taken off and further details will be shared as they emerge.

While officials have said that the unit has received many complaints since its inception, not a lot have been found to contain substantial proof to register an FIR. "We have received many complaints but not all have the substance to instantly register a case. We are looking into the complaints and will register the cases accordingly," one official

said.

When the unit was formed, the CBI had said that emerging technologies had created a "new dimension, wherein the sexual exploitation of children can multiply, if unchecked. Children, every day, all around the world are prone to suffer online sexual abuse and exploitation".

The territorial jurisdiction of the Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (OCSAE) Prevention and Investigation Unit of CBI will be all over India.