POCSO court awards Jhansi man 5 years of RI (Img: Internet)
Jhansi: A special POCSO court in Jhansi has sentenced an accused to five years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹1.5 lakh in a Child Sexual Exploitation Material (CSEM) case investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The verdict was delivered on May 22 by the Special Judge under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The convicted individual, identified as Ramji, was found guilty of circulating and storing objectionable content involving minors through online platforms.
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The CBI had registered the case on November 14, 2021, based on intelligence inputs indicating the existence of a network involved in sharing Child Sexual Exploitation Material across different parts of India and abroad.
According to investigators, the accused and others allegedly used social media groups, online storage services and third-party hosting platforms to distribute explicit content involving children. The material was reportedly circulated in the form of videos, photographs, links and posts through multiple digital channels.
During the investigation, officials discovered that the accused had created several Gmail IDs and used them to operate accounts on Pdisk, a content-sharing platform similar to YouTube.
The agency found that many of these accounts contained explicit material involving minors. Investigators alleged that the accused used these online accounts to circulate pornographic and exploitative content and also earned money through the activity.
Electronic evidence collected during the probe was presented before the court as part of the prosecution’s case.
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The CBI filed its first chargesheet in June 2022, followed by a supplementary chargesheet in December the same year. Charges against the accused were formally framed in April 2023.
After examining the evidence and hearing arguments from both sides, the court convicted the accused and awarded the sentence under relevant provisions of the POCSO Act and related laws dealing with online child exploitation material.
Officials said the case highlights continued efforts by investigative agencies to crack down on digital networks involved in the circulation of exploitative content targeting children.
