Two people in Hyderabad were arrested on Thursday for allegedly watching child sexual abuse material (CSAM, also referred to as child pornography) by the city police’s cybercrime unit. According to reports, the accused were identified as 33-year-old Mohammed Feroz from Habsiguda in Tarnaka, and 22-year-old Prashanth Kumar from Kachiguda. 

The cybercrime police told reporters that the duo was browsing through CSAM last year on various websites and were identified by central agencies which were specially working to identify online child abuse. After receiving information about this, the two people were arrested by the police and their mobile phones were seized, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Cyber Crime, KVM Prasad, told Telangana Today.

The police said that the duo’s online activity was tracked after they had searched for CSAM on various search engines last year. Apart from these two accused, the Crime Investigation Department (CID), Telangana, has also reportedly received information related to similar online activity by 13 others, from central agencies, media reports stated.

The Hyderabad cybercrime police warned people against searching, browsing or viewing any kind of CSAM as joint operations were being taken up on a global level to identify those indulging in online child sexual abuse.

In order to tackle this issue, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2019 had set up an Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (OCSAE) Prevention and Investigation Unit under its Special Crime Zone. 

The specialised unit collects, collates and disseminates information regarding publication, transmission, creation, collection, seeking, browsing, downloading, advertising, promoting, exchanging and distribution of information related to online child sexual abuse and exploitation.

The information is later passed on to the local police in the states so that the accused can be taken into custody.