In a significant breakthrough, the cyber cell of the CB-CID has arrested Yadava Manikanta, a 27-year-old Tirupati-based man, for creating and running a Facebook page with paedophile content. Manikanta was moderating the Facebook page “Chinna ponnu veriyargal” (Crazy about little girls).
Not An Isolated Case
The News Minute has been reporting about several similar pages on Facebook in Malayalam and Tamil, which used photographs of young girls and children and urged its users to comment on them. The comments on these photographs usually ran into hundreds and were explicit in nature.
While it seems almost impossible for the police to nab every defaulter who creates, follows or comments on such pages, Manikanta’s arrest could serve as a deterrent for others who endorse such depraved content.
Earlier, Kerala Police displayed rank indifference when cases of similar Malayalam pages were reported, putting the onus on Saudi Arabia, where the creator was based out of.
How The Case Was Cracked
The arrest of Manikanta came after an NGO in Chennai filed a complaint against his page. The police tracked his IP address and arrested him from his house. According to a report by The Times of India, a police officer said Manikanta had tried to create four such pages in a year.
Manikanta took pictures of children in public places around the temple town Tirupati and uploaded them on his page. He also circulated the images on a private online group.
Now, a case has been registered against Manikanta under 67 B (b) of the Information Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). The act terms, “creating text or digital images, collecting, seeking, browsing, downloading, advertising, promoting, exchanging or distributing material in any electronic form depicting children in obscene or indecent or sexually explicit manner”, as a serious offence.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)