Tamil Nadu registers first case of child pornography under POCSO Act

The Tiruchirapalli police arrested a 42-year-old railway contract worker on Thursday (December 12) on charges of possessing and circulating child pornography to his contacts on Facebook.

This is the first instance of a child pornography case being booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, as well as Section 67 (A) (B) of the Information Technology Act in Tamil Nadu.

A senior police official said that the accused had put up pornographic content on Facebook besides sending it to other friends using three fake identities.

Also read: Centre sends report on child porn viewers’ details to TN police

Based on inputs received from the cybercrime department in Chennai, officers looking into the issue issued summons to the accused for an inquiry. Before appearing before the officers, the accused deleted all pornographic content from his mobile phone and other storage devices. However, police acquired the footages from forwarded texts made to one of his friends on Messenger.

According to The Hindu, Trichy Police Commissioner V Varadharaju said that the accused was addicted to child pornography and that the contacts, to whom he forwarded the illicit content, were addicted too.

He was produced before a Mahila court and remanded in judicial custody until December 26.

An investigation is on to find out the source of the objectionable content.