Punjab: Court awards 3 years imprisonment and Rs 10k fine to man for transmitting child pornography

Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], November 23 (ANI): The District and Sessions Court, Mohali sentenced a Ludhiana-based man to three years of rigorous imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 for transmitting child pornographic content through Facebook Messenger.
"The accused has been identified as Anuj Kumar, a resident of Village Sahnewal in Ludhiana," the officials said.
As per the information, following the Cyber Tipline regarding the transmission of child pornographic content received on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children (CCPWC) Unit of the Punjab State Cyber Crime Cell initiated investigations into the matter, which revealed that the suspect had transmitted a video clip of child pornography through Facebook Messenger on November 27, 2020.
Following this, Case FIR No. 18 dated September 18, 2021, was registered under Section 67-B of the IT Act at Police Station State Cyber Crime, Punjab, for uploading/transmitting child pornography content.
"During the course of the investigation, technical details, including IP addresses were sought from various Internet service providers and social media platforms, which led to tracing the identity of the accused. The accused was arrested on January 13, 2022, and the mobile phone used to commit the offence was recovered from his possession," the officials said.
Nilambari Jagadale, DIG Cyber Crime, informed that publishing or transmitting material in any electronic form that depicts children engaged in sexually explicit acts or conduct or creates text or digital images, collects, seeks, browses, downloads, advertises, promotes, exchanges or distributes material in any electronic form depicting children in obscene or indecent or sexually explicit manner is a punishable act with the provision of up to five years imprisonment and a fine that may extend to Rs 10 lakh rupees.
She also exhorted parents to talk openly with their children about their online activities, allow children to use screens and devices under their supervision, keep check on children's online friends and teach them to keep their location private.
Meanwhile, the CCPWC is a special unit established to prevent and counter cyber-crimes against Women and Children. (ANI)