Tamil Nadu: Temple Priest Arrested For Posting Child Porn On Social Media After Tipoff From US Agency

The Udumalpet police said, the accused downloaded some videos and uploaded them on Facebook.

A representational image of a survivor and an abuser | Credit: Pixabay

Chennai: A 50-year-old temple priest from Udumalpet was arrested for uploading child porn on social media in 2020, based on a tipoff from a US-based non-profit agency.

According to a report on The News Minute, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a USA-based non-profit agency, lodged a complaint against an IP address and phone number from India for sharing child sexual abuse material on social media. 

Following the complaint, Tamil Nadu police started a search and zeroed down on a particular mobile number in Udumalpet town in Tiruppur district. The police identified the person as Vaidhayanathan alias Balaji who was working at a local temple in Madathukulam.  

The police then arrested Balaji under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Information Technology Act. Balaji was arrested under charges including Section 13 (Use of child for pornographic purposes) read with 12 (ii) of POCSO Act and Section 67 (B) (b) (provides punishment for publishing or transmitting of material depicting children in sexually explicit act in electronic form) of Information Technology Act. 

The Udumalpet police said, the accused downloaded some videos and uploaded them on Facebook. Hence, the origin of the video is unknown.

The NCMEC is a non-profit agency working on preventing child sexual exploitation. The agency in coordination with Facebook picks up objectionable material and alerts the Federal Bureau of Investigation through Interpol, who further reached out to CBI in this case. The NCMEC uses PhotoDNA, an image identification technology to detect child sexual abuse material.