India witnessed 17-fold rise in child pornography cases, UP & Kerala on top

Amid protests over the Chandigarh MMS scandal, Delhi women’s commission chief Swati Maliwal made a shocking statement on Tuesday when she said child pornography videos are available on social media platforms such as Twitter for as little as Rs 20. She claimed to have found several tweets depicting rape and sexual activities with children, often when they are asleep. While the very thought of child pornography is repulsive, to say the least, the fact is India has witnessed a massive rise in such cases over the last few years.

According to Lok Sabha data, child pornography cases have jumped from 44 in 2018 to 738 in 2020 – a 1,600 per cent spike during the pandemic. Arrests have gone up from 36 to 372 in the same period. 

With 194 cases between 2018 and 2020, Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest such incidents in the country. UP is followed by Kerala (146), Maharashtra (129) and Karnataka (126). However, when it comes to arrests, Kerala has a better record (139) than the others. Among bigger states, Jharkhand and J&K have reported zero child pornography cases. 

Between 2016 and 2020, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) received 56 complaints of child sexual exploitation content online – 75 per cent of them in the last two years alone. The highest number of complaints came from UP (17) and Delhi (10). It also found 31 websites containing child pornography material. 

The latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data paints a grimmer picture. In 2021, more than 1,000 minor girls across the country were kidnapped for sex, prostitution and pornography – almost all of them in semi-rural and rural areas. 

At 135, Bihar recorded the highest number of cases regarding the use of a child for pornography and storing child pornography material. Bihar was followed by Jharkhand (50), Tamil Nadu (46) and Rajasthan (43). Among metropolitan cities, Hyderabad recorded the highest such cases at 17, followed by Pune (5) and Mumbai (4). 

Child pornography videos are easily available on the Internet, and more so on the dark web. The government has cracked down on the same – tightening cyber laws and announcing stringent punishment for violators, and at the same time running educational programmes. However, much more needs to be done as the rising numbers show us.