GUWAHATI, April 18 - In the wake of the nationwide COVID-induced lockdown, Guwahati has witnessed a sharp rise in demand for child pornographic material, exposing children to sexual crimes.
Guwahati is also rated as the hotspot where an abnormal rise in demand for specific content and specific actions including children of particular age groups, locations, etc., has been witnessed. Trends indicate high demand for such material also in East Imphal and Shillong besides several other places in India.
According to the Indian Child Protection Fund (ICPF), a leading child protection organisation in South Asia working to end child trafficking and child rape, child pornographic material (also referred to as �Child Sexual Abuse Material�) has been rising in Guwahati along with Kolkata, Siliguri, Howrah, Chandigarh, Indore, Bhubaneswar and Chennai.
ICPF reports that since the lockdown, online data monitoring websites are showing an increase in demand for searches like �child porn�, �sexy child� and �teen sex videos�.
Data from Pornhub, the world�s largest pornography website, also reveal that traffic from India increased by 95 per cent between March 24 and 26 as compared to their average traffic pre-coronavirus.
ICPF, in a statement, has warned the current trend indicates that millions of paedophiles, child rapists and child pornography addicts have migrated online, making the internet extremely unsafe for children.
�This is a blatant violation of the directions of the Supreme Court, and a violation of national policy. Pornographic websites are playing hide-and-seek with Indian law and judiciary by simply changing their website URLs. The Government of India must urgently crack down on child pornography and also initiate a global dialogue for an international convention against child sexual abuse material,� asserted Nivedita Ahuja, spokesperson for ICPF.
ICPF has released a report titled �Child Sexual Abuse Material in India�, a research of child pornography demand in 100 cities in India like New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Indore. The overall demand for child pornography was an average of 5 million per month in 100 cities on the public web during December 2019, which has now spiked.
The report reveals up to 200 per cent increase in demand for violent and exploitative content.
Metro cities like New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai, besides many Tier II and capital cities, which are witnessing a sharp increase in coronavirus cases, have been red-flagged by the December study as hotspots for child pornography.
