In news–The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches across States and one Union Territory, as part of a pan-India drive against the circulation and sharing of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) under the code name ‘Operation Megh Chakra’.
About the operation-
- The operation was carried out following the inputs received from Interpol’s Singapore special unit based on the information received from the authorities in New Zealand.
- In November 2021, the agency launched a similar exercise code named “Operation Carbon”, in which the suspects in 13 States and one Union Territory were raided.
- The previous operation was conducted at 76 locations across the country.
Note:
- CBI is also the nodal agency for the Interpol, which has an International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) image and video database, which allows investigators from member countries to share data on cases of child sexual abuse.
- Used by 64 countries including India, ICSE has helped identifymore than twenty thousand survivors and 10,752 offenders worldwide from the 2.3 million images and videos the database has.
- It has provision of sharing data – both in open network that can be accessed by all the countries as well as with specific countries.
- CBI also has constituted a special unit called Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention/ Investigation (OCSAE) since 2019 for investigating matters pertaining to online child sexual abuse and exploitation.
- Apart from receiving various references/information, the unit undertakes investigation of various offences relating to online child sexual abuse and exploitation.
Source: Hindustan Times
