Bhopal, February 28: A US-based agency has identified over 30,000 people in Madhya Pradesh who allegedly circulated suspected child sexual abuse material (CSAM) including pornography, online enticement and contact offences. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) has been sharing these 'CyberTipline reports' with India after it signed an agreement with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in 2019.

TOI reported that the Madhya Pradesh police is planning a major crackdown and has identified over 4,000 actionable cases from the NCMEC CyberTipline data acquired from central intelligence. Child Porn: More Than 100 FIRs Lodged in Delhi, 36 Arrested During Major Operation Against Child Pornography, Say Police Officials.

The police is currently undergoing through the other 26,000 cases and potential arrest lists are being sent to 10 districts from the state cyber cell headquarters.  Twitter Bans Around 44,611 Accounts for Promoting Child Porn, Nudity in India Post Elon Musk’s Takeover.

The scheduled arrests are set to cross the number of charged individuals in Vyapam, India's biggest recruitment scam. In the NCMEC data, Indore has the maximum number of CSAM uploads, with around 2,000 cases followed by over 1,000 in Bhopal.

Other cities, including Gwalior, Jabalpur, Dhar and Khargone, account for around 500 to 600 cases. 

The state cyber HQ has shared the data - IP addresses, locations and devices used - with SPs for further action which will help to facilitate the arrests.

TOI quoted a cop as saying that arresting 4,000 people is going to be a herculean task, but cops will take action. He added that the probe up until now suggests that none of the girls shown in the illegal content hail from MP. 

“The videos are of girls from other countries. They were downloaded, uploaded or shared on social media platforms," he further said. 

However, officials have noted that, in some cases, the content cannot be categorised as CSAM. 

"One of the videos, for instance, appears to be from a village and shows an old woman feeding an infant, who is unclothed. This content may have been flagged by an AI-based detection system. We don't find it actionable as of today," said the officer.

The Madhya Pradesh police has arrested over 50 people in such cases in the last few years.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 28, 2023 04:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).