Overview
- The Child Protection Unit apprehended 15 repeat offenders on June 18 in coordinated raids across Hyderabad, Yadadri, Karimnagar, Warangal, Jagtial and Jagadgirigutta linked to 57 cyber tipline complaints.
- Arrested suspects are educated men aged 19 to 50 from middle-class backgrounds who stored and circulated videos and images involving girls aged 6 to 14, most of whom appear to be foreign nationals.
- Investigators registered 34 FIRs under the IT Act and the POCSO Act and blocked nearly 220 websites hosting illicit material as part of the operation.
- Since its February launch, the CPU has filed 294 FIRs and detained 110 individuals, a sharp increase from 37 FIRs and 34 arrests in the previous two years.
- Authorities are probing whether the accused created or merely distributed the content and plan to sanction social media platforms that failed to curb its circulation.