New Delhi: Ever since the COVID-19 lockdown was enforced in the country there has been an alarming rise in demand for child pornography material, the India Child Protection Fund (ICPF) on Monday said on Monday.
According to a report titled ‘Child Sexual Abuse Material in India,’ 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 shows up to 200 per cent increase in demand for ”violent content” in connection with the children, as per an official release.
“This presents a chilling reality of the extreme threat faced by India’s children during this period of lockdown. Demand for child sexual abuse material indicates children are more vulnerable to sexual predators,” ICPF report read.
Metro cities like New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai, besides many Tier II and capital cities, which are seeing a sharp increase in coronavirus cases, have been red-flagged by the December study as hotspots for child pornography.
“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,” said Nivedita Ahuja, spokesperson for ICPF.
