According to the State Crime Records Bureau, approximately 80 percent cases were reported against cyber pornography in the last two months in Bengaluru.
Bengaluru: Cybercrimes against children have increased by 25 percent in the city this year, according to the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB). Out of 144 cases, 122 were that of cyber pornography in December 2021. Police said, “The rise in number of cases is due to the lack of supervision by parents, easy accessibility to internet among various other factors.”
A mother to a cybercrime victim, Nandini Gupta (changed name) informed that her daughter studying in Class 6th was a victim to cyber pornography and bullying. “My daughter started spending majority of her time on phone last month. Earlier, we thought it’s because of her homework assigned by school, but as she uses my phone, I got to know later that an anonymous person with whom she used to chat on social media; sent her inappropriate pictures and bullied her. That’s when we complained to the police,” she added while talking about the importance of awareness among children regarding responsible usage of internet.
Parents also believe that increased hours of internet exposure due to online learning have made children a victim to cyber-crime like bullying, harassment and cyber pornography in the last two years.
Kumar Swamy, a sub-inspector at Cyber, Economic and Narcotics Crime Department said that majority of the cases reported against cybercrime counts from South Bangalore, Whitefield and South-east Bangalore. He also stressed on how the department is working together to raise awareness among adults, parents, and children to control cybercrimes cases in the city. He added, “We have been putting banners around the city and circulate information through media regarding how cybercrime cases happen and prevention against it. But today at this age, accessibility is very easy. Every home has a smart phone, that’s why parents should be responsible for the internet usage of children. Children should not use social media at an early stage and should know the cons of it.”
Child rights activists in the city said that children are not aware that they are pushed towards crime in the cyber-space. Vasudev Sharma, Head of Child Rights Trust (NGO) said, “In all our programs we have added this new curriculum with the help of committees which educate parents as well as children in what ways one can report against anything which seems unacceptable. We also educate children to not be afraid of reporting against cyber-crime and think that they are alone. They should come forward to report against it and be aware of the fraudulent in cyber space.”
Experts say that children are the most vulnerable targets of cyber-crime these days. Parents should be more cautious of what their child is doing on the internet and make them aware about responsible usage of internet.
