The researchers from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences have claimed that Coronavirus in the Mumbai city had reached the stage of community transmission before the lockdown was implemented, but the infected cases were detected only after the number of samplings increased.
An analysis published in the Indian Journal of Public Health claims, “The spread of the virus in Mumbai in April showed a linear growth, and it is possible that the lockdown prevented exponential growth. However, the virus seems to be ahead of the testing curve and as testing rates improve, a clearer picture will emerge.”
Lockdown prevented the exponential rise in coronavirus cases
Reportedly, the data collected zone-wise and ward-wise saw a rise in the COVID-19 cases. It also claimed that some wards are much more affected than the others. It also claimed that lockdown prevented an exponential rise in the coronavirus cases in the city.
The research paper said, “However, the virus seems to be ahead of the testing curve and as testing rates improve, a clearer picture will emerge. Moreover, the number of cases in the four most economically critical wards is less, and they also have a slower spread of infection. These wards have a large inflow of population during working hours from other wards as people travel to work in the offices and industries located in these wards. As the lockdown was already in place when this study was conducted, it is possible that the lockdown measures prevented a larger spread of the virus within these wards.”
Random testing exercise initiated by ICMR
Indian Council of Medical Research also initiated an exercise to randomly take samples from the severe acute respiratory illness patients unknowing of the origin of infection. It is stated that from late February to April 2, 3 percent of those patients have been found infected by corona virus across 36 districts. But the government has not published the full list of these district.
ICMR in association with other collaborators had published data last week in which it revealed that 14 percent of all the confirmed cases till April 30 across the country emerged through community transmission. Other 44 per cent were suspected cases for the same as their contact histories or categories under which they have been tested were not documented properly.
Mumbai has reported 34,018 confirmed cases and more than a thousand deaths by Tuesday morning. The city reportedly witnessed a spike in corona virus cases of over 375 times within 50 days of lock down.
A young RSS worker, Rajesh Phoolmali, 28, was brutally assaulted by a Muslim mob on May 18 after he raised objections over the derogatory post made by them on Sita Mata. As per reports, clashes broke out between the residents of Hapala and Dipala villages in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh, injuring 10-11 people from both the sides.
Rajesh Phoolmali was one of the severely injured men in the skirmish that broke out over disparaging remark made against Sita Mata by the other side. Besides, Rajesh, his sister Sheela Phoolmali and friend Pawan Solanki also suffered injuries. While Sheela was admitted in a hospital in Khandwa, Rajesh was rushed to a hospital in Sagar, as he suffered critical head injuries.
Rajesh, his sister Sheela and friend had suffered injuries
Rajesh was later shifted to Gandhi Medical College in Bhopal. As his condition continued to deteriorate the National Commission for Scheduled Castes in New Delhi took cognisance of Rajesh’s worsening health and got him shifted to New Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on 21 May. After fighting for life for more than 12 days, Rajesh succumbed to his injuries in Safdarjung hospital on May 31. His dead body was later brought to his native village Khandwa and last rites were performed as per Hindu traditions on June 1.
Rajesh Phoolmali’s sister injured in the clashes(Source: Organiser)
The local administration initially tried to downplay the incident claiming that the clashes erupted between the two communities over a trivial issue of goat grazing. However, the locals in the area alleged that the murder of the RSS worker was a pre-planned conspiracy by the Muslim mob.
Altercation started over derogatory and anti-Hindu posts on Facebook
ASP (City) Khandwa, Seema Alava while talking to OpIndia said an altercation between the two communities over an indecent remark over Sita Mata on Facebook resulted in violent clashes between the members of two community. She further added that a total of 24 accused were identified and 17 of them have already been arrested by the police. Investigations are underway to determine the whereabouts of the remaining 7 accused, she added.
According to an article published in RSS-published Organiser, the RSS worker along with his friends had earlier approached Ramnagar Police Station to file a complaint against the offenders for posting vulgar remarks against Sita Mata. However, no action was taken against the accused.
Rajesh’s brother, Manoj Phoolmali has told Organiser that his brother was killed through a pre-planned strategy by Muslims. “The dispute started on April 22, when a local Muslim had made derogatory remarks against Sita Mata on Facebook. Some men from the Hindu community expressed their strong objection to the post. Later, at the request of a few villagers, my brother went to the Ramnagar police outpost to file a complaint against the offensive post. The police initially refused to file an against the offenders but when Rajesh insisted, they filed an FIR. They initially booked 4-5 Muslims involved in the case but later released them,” Manoj said to Organiser.
The complaint was filed on April 29.
Image Courtesy(Source: Organiser)
Muslims targeted Rajesh over the police complaint, says brother
As per the Organiser report, Manoj further added that the day the Muslim men were released from the jail, they threatened to kill his brother. He claims that the Muslim men caught hold of Rajesh on May 18 and mercilessly thrashed him. Their sister, Sheela was also badly assaulted by the assailants. After fighting for about 2 weeks for his life, Rajesh breathed his last on May 31 in the hospital in New Delhi.
Manoj further claims that the Muslim mob attacked other Hindus in the region as well. “They pelted stones at us. Attacked other Hindus with iron rods and butcher’s knife,” Manoj said.
A day after social media celebrity Vikas Pathak, who is popularly known as ‘Hindustani Bhau’ filed a police complaint against TV producer Ekta Kapoor and her mother Shobha Kapoor over allegations of inappropriate sex scene and disrespecting the Indian Army in a web series, the popular Youtube star said that he has been getting calls from numerous people asking him to “sit and talk”.
Vikas Pathak aka Hindustani Bhau shared a video on Instagram on Tuesday alleging that he is getting calls from several “big people” who are requesting him to talk and solve the issue.
“Yesterday, I filed a police complaint at Khar Police Station against Bollywood’s renowned ‘Ek Thi Kabootar’ Ekta Kapoor. I have been getting so many phone calls from yesterday as if Ekta Kapoor runs their household and sends them ration.” said the former Big Boss contestant in his Instagram video.
“Bade bade log call kar rahe hain (big people are calling me). They want me to sit and talk with them. But I don’t want to sit and talk with anybody. I want her to apologise to the Indian Army because she and her mother have insulted the Indian Army,” Hindustani Bhau said in Hindi.
Pathak said that nobody can buy him with money and added that people who are making such requests should be ashamed. The YouTuber added that not just him, but the police who are investigating the case against Ekta Kapoor is also in pressure.
Complaint filed against Ekta Kapoor
On Monday, a police complaint was filed against TV producer Ekta Kapoor and her mother Shobha Kapoor over allegations of ‘inappropriate sex scene’ and disrespecting the Indian Army in her erotic web series XXX 2.
A complaint was registered against Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor at the Khar police station for ‘inappropriate sex scene’ in her erotic web series XXX 2, which was reportedly streamed on OTT platform Alt Balaji.
Ekta Kapoor is the founder of ALT Balaji, which is owned by her production house, Balaji Telefilms. The controversial scenes were telecast in an episode titled, “Pyaar aur Plastic”.
According to Hindustani Bhau, an episode in the web series depicts that a wife of an army officer indulges in a physical relationship with her boyfriend, while her husband, who is a soldier, was away from the family.
The YouTube star also mentioned that in the web series, the woman is seen making her boyfriend wear her husband’s uniform and later tearing it off, which Bhau found quite disrespectful to the Indian Army.
Hearing a suo motu petition on the “highly dissatisfactory”storage and cremation facilities for those who have died due to Coronavirus, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday slammed Arvind Kejriwal led Delhi government and sought an explanation for the slow rate of disposal of COVID-19 related dead bodies at crematoriums in the city, reports Bar and Bench.
The court noted that as on May 31, 2020, out of total 45 dead bodies only 7 were cremated.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan took suo motu cognizance after it noted that bodies of those who had died of coronavirus as far as 5 days ago in Delhi were yet to be cremated. And also that inside the largest COVID-19 mortuary of Lok Nayak Hospital (LNJP), all 80 storage racks were full, with 28 more bodies lying on the floor, piled on top of each other.
After recording the submissions made by the Delhi government that besides Nigam Bodh Ghat crematorium, Pachkuiyan and Punjabi Bagh crematoriums had also been authorized to dispose of the dead bodies of persons who had either passed away on account of COVID-19 or there was a suspicion of the same and that the timings of the crematoriums had also been increased, the court ordered: “We would like to know from the respondents the reasons for slow disposal of these dead bodies. We, therefore, direct the respondents to file further status report/affidavit”.
The court asked the Delhi Government to state whether it was following its own guidelines issued on May 30, regarding the disposal of dead bodies. “It is one thing to issue the directions/guidelines and it is absolutely a different thing to ensure the execution of those directions. We are not burdening the respondents by adding any further directions to the directions already issued by the respondent No.1 on 30th May 2020. However, what we expect from the respondents is, proper execution of those guidelines/directions so that the aforesaid dead bodies may be disposed of at the earliest and the relatives of those persons who have expired should be informed and other formalities are completed immediately.”, the Delhi High Court said.
The matter would be taken up again on June 15.
Crematoriums in the city sending back bodies of Coronavirus victims to hospitals
It was reported on May 28, that the mortuary in the Lok Nayak Hospital, the largest dedicated coronavirus hospital in the national capital, is now full with dead bodies of coronavirus victims and suspected cases as bodies are returning back to the facility from the crematorium due to their inability to depose more dead bodies.
According to the reports, the Nigambodh Ghat CNG crematorium in Delhi sent eight bodies back to the Lok Nayak hospital on May 26 (Tuesday) as it was in no position to depose more bodies. The crematorium has only two of its six furnaces working.
With the rising deaths related to coronavirus in Delhi, the hospital staff are worried now, who said, “We are yet to cremate the bodies of those who died five days ago”.
“The backlog of such cases is increasing every day. Wearing PPE suits, we stand in the sun in this heat outside the crematorium only to be told in the evening that they cannot accept the bodies. Today there are 28 bodies on the floor lying next to each other or piled on top of each other. Last week, there were 34,” said another official according to HT.
Coronavirus deaths being covered up in Delhi? Municipality records show three times deaths compared to official numbers
Recently, senior BJP leaders in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had reportedly accused the Arvind Kejriwal-led-Delhi Government of a ‘massive discrepancy’ in the number of official Coronavirus deaths and the actual data of such deaths, recorded from crematoriums and burial grounds.
On the contrary, the Delhi Government had passed on the blame for the discrepancy in data on the hospitals. Arvind Kejriwal has accused the health officials of not providing timely information and has therefore issued new guidelines.
Dairy cooperative AMUL stood tall as the coronavirus crisis hit the country and against all odds managed to ensure that milk distribution is not impaired and supply chain management is seamless. In a recent interview with the New Indian Express, Amul MD RS Sodhi explained how diary cooperative managed to keep the supply chain up and running during the lockdown.
Sodhi said that milk is the primary source of income for 100 million families in India. It is next to impossible to stop the milk supply chain. While the restaurants and eateries were closed during the lockdown, the household consumption increased by several folds and so, whatever business Amul lost from restaurants was covered by households.
Amul’s supply chain ran smoothly, thanks to Ministry of Home Affairs and local administrations
When the government announced lockdown, Amul communicated with all the stakeholders. They managed to keep the supply chain up and running as the Ministry of Home Affairs and local administrations helped them in every possible way. There were some hiccups in the process that were dealt with by Amul and administration.
Sodhi says that one of the major issues was with the supply chain partners. While returning home, villagers stopped them stating possible coronavirus spread. Amul helped in sorting out such problems. In some villages, there were Chinese coronavirus positive cases and Amul had to stop procurement from those places. Once they received a green signal from the administration, they restarted procurement from those villages as well.
Amul is ready to lead in White Revolution 2.0
In India, animal husbandry growth per annum is 14 percent as compared to agricultural growth of around 3 percent. However, animal husbandry contributed only 4.5 percent of GDP. In the last ten years, Amul has increased its procurement by 9% CAGR compared to India’s procurement rate that is growing at 4.5 to 5 percent. The company is growing much faster in comparison to its competitors. Sodhi mentioned that Amul collects around 26 million litres of milk every day and this grew by 15% during the lockdown. In last 60 days, Rs 8,000 crore were pumped back by AMUL into the rural economy especially in Gujarat.
“Amul is ready… The farmers are ready to lead, and Amul is owned by the farmers. So, yes. Amul is ready to lead,” he said. Speaking on becoming global market leader, Sodhi said, “India is the world’s largest and fastest growing dairy market. The whole world wants to come to India, and only one-third is organised. If I go to Europe or America, these are saturated markets. So you have to snatch market share from other established players. For the same investment, the Indian market will yield more results.”
Gujarat provides 60 percent of the milk to Amul and the rest of the states provide the remaining 40 percent. Amul is expanding its reach to other states and every year they are investing Rs 800-900 crores in new dairy plants across the country.
The farmers in the Sultanpur village of Vikarabad district of Telangana found two pots containing gold and silver ornaments while ploughing a field on Wednesday. As per reports, a total of 25 gold and silver ornaments were found in the pots.
The land belongs to one Mohammad Siddiqui who had bought it two years back. With the monsoon approaching, he had started tilling the land for farming. While ploughing the field he had suddenly stumbled on the pots. He had reportedly informed the government authorities.
As per the report, most of the ornaments in the pot included large-size anklets.
The officials from the revenue department reached the spot and had taken control over the findings. A goldsmith was called to check the ornaments for their gold or silver content.
Mandal Revenue Officer, Vidyasagar Reddy was quoted by the New Indian Express as saying, “The place doesn’t have any history of finding such treasure. We will inform the archeology department about it.”
The Year 2020 is proving to be one of inexplicable and unprecedented events. With a pandemic, global economic collapse and political instability across the world, the year has seen it all and we haven’t reached its midpoint yet. Consistent with the theme, the LGBT Community is now saying that holding pride marches during pride month is worthy of condemnation.
Sonzal Welfare Trust, an NGO which works for the welfare of the LGBT Community in Jammu & Kashmir, has condemned Pride Kashmir for announcing a pride march at Lal Chowk in Srinagar. According to them, Pride Kashmir is being run by a “communical Cishetero group to divide people on the basis of religion and political ideology”. Pride Kashmir was condemned for supporting the abrogation of Article 370.
The post was even shared by Human of Patriarchy which is a radical feminist group. The post says, “Sonzal Welfare Trust strongly condemns misrepresentation of LGBT community of Kashmir. Such a misrepresentation appropriates the voices of queer and transgender people from Kashmir while creating a smokescreen of rainbow solidarity.”
The post also uses the hashtags #NoPinkWashing, #NoHomoNationalism and #NotinOurName. The condemnation came after Pride Kashmir announced a pride march at Lal Chowk on Instagram recently. After the post, they received a ton of abuses from Muslim fundamentalists on social media. Deeply offensive homophobic slurs were used and yet, the LGBT Community appears to have chosen to remain silent over it.
Even as the LGBT Community disassociates itself from Pride Kashmir, Kashmiri Youth Movement, whose initiative it is, is receiving death threats from Radical Muslims. On the 3rd of June, KYM uploaded a video on its Twitter account in which the voice messages sent to them by one Aqib Dar could be heard.
Aqib Dar went to great extent to make it clear that he was a Kashmiri and not a Pakistani. He abused KYM in the vilest of languages and threatened to murder them. Dar also glorified the Pulwama Terror Attack and the murder of the CRPF Jawans. The person also uses deeply offensive Hinduphobic slurs and abuses Hindus in the most vulgar of terms. Even the Gods are not spared. The tweet is embedded below (CAUTION: Offensive language. Viewer discretion advised.)
— Kashmiri Youth Movement (@KYMchannel) June 3, 2020
The LGBT Community has completely abandoned Pride Kashmir and the Kashmiri Youth Movement. They are, in fact, busy condemning them. It only goes on to demonstrate that intersectional politics is a massive failure and the NGOs claiming to work for the LGBT community are often more concerned with advancing the agenda of Radical Islam than the rights of the community itself.
For quite some time, it has been evident that Indian liberalism is Western progressivism with a time lag. But it has never been more obvious than in the aftermath of the violent riots in the United States. As stores were pillaged by savage thugs on the prowl, the banality of the ideology of progressivism was revealed for all to see. However, for the unwilling, seeing reality as it is is indeed an arduous task even with fully functional eyes.
While liberals in the United States were busy inciting violence, justifying riots, celebrating them and then blame Trump supporters for causing it, their Indian counterparts struggled hard to draw a false equivalence between African Americans in the United States and the Muslim population in India. There is, of course, no equivalence that can be drawn between the two given the drastically different historical context, but that does not stop the zealot from engaging in deluded pursuits.
Indian ‘liberals’ decided that it was a good opportunity to equate Indian Muslims with the Black population in the USA and trend ‘Muslim Lives Matter’. Despite the fact that Muslims in India had never been subjected to slavery and enjoy constitutional privileges that the Hindu community does not, a false parallel was sought to be drawn between the two.
Tweet by Ashok Swain
Speaking of history, Islamic invaders have committed the most heinous genocides of Hindus in history and Indian Muslims even partitioned the country in 1947 to establish the Islamic State of Pakistan. Blacks in the USA have no such history. Therefore, any parallel between the two only serves to whitewash the extent of the brutality the Black community had to suffer in the USA.
However, it is not the first time that Indian Muslims have been compared to actual victims of oppression abroad. They are often compared to Jews in Nazi Germany who were slaughtered en masse in the 1940s. Again, it’s a completely horrific analogy as in Independent India and in history, it was only the Hindu community that had to suffer a genocide due to the morbid hatred that prevails in significant sections of the Muslim community.
All of this is not surprising. Progressivism is the predominant religion of the western establishment and Indian liberals are devout adherents of it. The Western establishment evangelises for progressivism through the institutional mediums for spreading a faith. Its social institutions, the business corporations, the Universities, the entertainment industry, the mainstream media, every significant institution coordinates with each other to spread the doctrine of progressivism, which they consider sacred.
Thus, adherents of the religion of Progressivism in India believe Narendra Modi is “literally Hitler” while those in the United States consider Donald Trump to be the same. The Citizenship Amendment Act in India is interpreted as the Nuremberg Laws while the US President’s views on illegal immigration and border security garner much hate.
In a similar vein, Hindus are equated to White Supremacists despite the fact that these two groups loathe each other and can often be found involved in intense arguments, which often turn abusive, on social media. The racial hatred that Hindus suffer from White Supremacists in the West also does not affect such malicious comparisons.
It’s important to understand in this context that Progressivism is truly an internationalist religion. When we speak of progressivism, we are not speaking of a political ideology here, we are speaking of a counter-religion with its own set of Gods, the Great Evil, its doomsday theories, priests, preachers and evangelicals. Together, they form the Cathedral.
Of course, progressivism is adapted to the local context as per necessities just as Christian missionaries often present Jesus Christ as Krishna or Vishnu and other Hindu Gods. In the West, the ‘White Male’ is considered the demon on which is attributed the cause of every single negative attribute. Patriarchy, Racism, predatory and crony Capitalism, everything is the fault of the White Male.In India, Upper Caste Hindu Men in general and Brahmin Men in particular are blamed for all social evils. ‘Smash Brahminical Patriarchy,’ they scream while opposing a ban on Triple Talaq. ‘Smash Brahminism’, they yell while indulging in genocidal rhetoric against Brahmins. It is a feature and not a bug of the religion of progressivism.
Thus, when George Floyd was murdered by the Police in the United States and a chorus of Black Lives Matter resounded across the country, liberals in India immediately jumped in the bandwagon and chanted Muslim Lives Matter. Because progressivism mandates that the Muslim community is the designated victim group in India, despite the lack of any equivalence between the two situations.
Despite such differences on the surface, the core of it always remains the same. The Humanities professors at Universities are the priests of the religion of progressivism everywhere and it is they who have been tasked with the responsibility of transmitting their ideologies across generations. The mainstream media and journalists are the preachers, the entertainers are the evangelicals, Multiculturalism and Rainbow Feminism are its Gods and Global Warming its own version of the Doomsday Apocalypse.
Thus, while there are certain differences on the surface, at the heart of it, Indian liberalism and progressivism in the West are just the same. Therefore, we should not be surprised when Muslims in India re equated with the Black population in the United States. Or when Narendra Modi is equated to Adolf Hitler. These are religious zealots we are talking about here and religious zealots are often out of touch with reality.
Delhi Police Crime Branch filed a charge-sheet in the murder case of IB official Ankit Sharma and Rajdhani school on Wednesday with the Metropolitan Magistrate at the Karkardooma Court in Delhi. According to the charge sheet, Ankit Sharma was specifically targeted by a mob led by suspended AAP leader Tahir Hussain, and there was a deep-rooted conspiracy behind his murder.
The FIR in the murder case of Ankit Sharma was filed on February 26 at Dayalpur police station. Delhi police had filed two charge sheets yesterday in relation to the Delhi riots.
Delhi Police Crime Branch has filed chargesheet before Metropolitan Magistrate (Karkardooma Court) in connection with the killing of Intelligence Bureau (IB) personnel Ankit Sharma during #DelhiViolence. Court has fixed 16th June as the date for consideration.
The charge sheet says that Ankit Sharma was murdered outside the residence of Tahir Hussain in the Khajuri Khas area on February 25. After stabbing him for multiple times, the mob threw his body in the nearby drain. A witness standing at a distance on a terrace captured the video on his mobile in which a mob is seen dumping the deceased body into the drain. The dead body was recovered from the drain the next morning.
Charge sheet in Ankit Sharma murder case
The post-mortem report claimed that there were 51 sharp and blunt injuries found on the Ankit Sharma’s body. Ten people including ex-AAP councillor Tahir Hussain have been arrested in this case. Further investigation has revealed that there is a deep-rooted conspiracy behind the riot and the murder of IB Official Ankit Sharma who was a very familiar face in the area. The charge sheet says that he was specifically targeted by the mob led by Tahir Hussain who was then politician of Aam Aadmi Party and sitting councillor in East Delhi Municipal Corporation, Delhi.
During the investigation, the knife which was used to stab Ankit Sharma and his blood-stained clothes of the murderer was recovered. Another knife and Tahir Hussain’s pistol was recovered in a separate case.
The investigation has revealed that Tahir Hussain is the main person who had been instigating the mob both on 24 and 25 of February in the Chand Bagh area. Another charge sheet against him has been filed for orchestrating riots on 24 February.
Another charge sheet filed in the Rajdhani school case
Another charge-sheet which was filed on Wednesday is of Rajdhani school case. The FIR was lodged on March 5 in the riots that took place on February 24 outside the premises of Rajdhani school Shiv Vihar, New Mustafabad, Delhi. The FIR was registered on the complaint filed by the owner and manager of DRP Convent school which is adjacent to the Rajdhani school building. Allegedly, the mob had camped inside and fired bullets on the terrace of Rajdhani school. They used the terrace of Rajdhani school to throw petrol bombs, acid, bricks, stones, and other missiles using an improvised large iron catapult installed there. The mob used ropes to climb down from the roof of Rajdhani school into the compound of DRP convent school and set the school on fire.
The charge sheet says that on 24 February, many children from Muslim families had left the school early, along with their parents, which indicate that the riot was pre-planned. Presence of Glass bottles for Molotov cocktails, rope and iron catapult on the terrace of Rajdhani school point towards the execution of a well-planned strategy and assault on the other party, the charge sheet asserts.
Photograph of catapult on Rajdhani school included in the charge shete
It is also alleged that the rioters looted the computers from the DRP Convent school and much more expensive assets. The Mob also burned down the building of Anil sweets which was standing exact opposite of Rajdhani school. An employee of Anil Sweets Dilbar Negi was trapped and killed inside the building. His charred body was found by police later.
The owner of the Rajdhani school Faisal Farooque along with eighteen persons was arrested in this case. Investigations revealed that Faisal Farooque planned to orchestrate riots in and around the Rajdhani school area. On his instruction both the buildings of DRP Convent school and Anil sweets were set on fire, the statement of the witnesses revealed. His call details revealed his links with prominent members of Popular Front of India, Pinjra tod group, Jamia Coordination Committee, Hazrat Nizamuddin Markaz, and some other fundamental Muslim clerics.
In a special drive conducted by the Kerala police with the help of Interpol, 30 people involved in circulating child pornography through a WhatsApp group have been identified and three persons, including the group administrator, were arrested in connection with the case.
Following the arrest, the Kerala police began investigating the case and followed it up with various police stations in the district. During investigation 30 other members of the WhatsApp group were identified.
According to a report by Mathrubhumi, the group members, all belonging to the age group of 22-45 years, are natives of Kuttippuram, Kalpakanchery, Vazhakkad, Manjeri, Edavanna, Areekode, Vengara and Nilambur.
“The members were added to the group under strict conditions. Only those who are acquaintances and interested to watch child porn were added into the group,” a Malappuram cyber cell official who is in charge of the case was qoted by Mathrubhumi.
Meanwhile, the officer also confirmed that over 300 people from Malappuram, Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Kozhikode and several foreign nationals will also be booked in the case.
This information that a child porn group was operating in Kerala was initially traced by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). UNICEF passed the information to the Interpol, which in turn forwarded it to Kerala’s Additional Deputy General of Police (ADGP), Manoj Abraham.
Following this, the Kozhikode Cyberdome and Changaramkulam police investigated and nabbed three members of the Whatsapp group including the group admin.
Kerala police registered cases against 58 for sharing child pornography as part of operation ‘paedophile-hunt’
Last year too, cases had been registered by the Kerala police against as many as 58 people for sharing child pornography with others through various social media platforms.
The crackdown was a part of operation ‘P-hunt’ (paedophile hunt) initiated by Cyberdome, a wing of the Kerala Police on June 11, 2019, wherein Kerala police, to curb the menace of cybercrime involving sexual attacks on children, joined hands with the Interpol, Crimes against Children Unit and the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.
Then too, the operation was led by the Additional Deputy General of Police (ADGP) Manoj Abraham under the supervision of Deputy General of Police (DGP) Loknath Behara.
Abraham said that when his team came across websites on the darknet they decided to launch the operation. Dark web or darknet refers to encrypted online content that is not indexed by conventional search engines.
He said that the team came across one such group which had a total of five lakh members, 126 of whom were from Kerala. Administrators of this group live in Pakistan and other European countries, added the police officer.
Though it was difficult to track members at first since they use fake identities and pseudonyms to conceal their identities, Kerala Police had trained with Interpol and other agencies and managed to crack down on the members of the group, revealed Abraham.
Recently India had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the USA to combat online child pornography. Last year, five such websites were shut down by the central government on receiving tip-offs from the cyber portal of National Crime Records Bureau. Five separate FIRs have been lodged against these websites under various sections of the Information Technology Act.
