While the rest of the world grappled with full and partial lockdown effects of Covid-19, medically and economically, 30-year-old Sanjay Prakashbhai Gavri, living in the shanties of Chandrabhaga, was downloading child pornography.
Resident of Juna Vadaj area of Ahmedabad, Gavri developed a habit of downloading child pornography from the internet. Unaware that he was under the watchful eye of the law enforcement agencies because of his acts, Gavri landed in trouble. A team of cyber cell sleuths of the city police led by Inspector BK Gamar knocked at his door on July 1, 2021.
First glimpse of the cops got Gavri scratching his head but he soon realized that he was in trouble when one of the cyber cell sleuths snatched his phone from his hands. The cop opened the gallery of the phone and showed Gavri what he had downloaded from the internet. It was child pornography.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (cyber cell, Ahmedabad) Amit Vasava said there were videos and pictures of child pornography and people indulging in sexual activities in the gallery of his phone.
“We informed him that downloading child pornography is an offence and then detained him under sections of IT Act. Gavri has been sent for Covid-19 test before arresting his officially,” added Vasava. Source from the cyber cell said that Gavri works as helper in a private transport company, which had shut its operations during the partial lockdown. “That is the reason why Gavri was without work and relied on the internet to spend time,” added a cyber cell official.
A senior official said that social media is being monitored by an agency located abroad. The agency keeps a hawk’s eye on objectionable material, which is downloaded from the internet and is not in the public interest.
“The agency then sends the URL, which has been generated while downloading such objectionable material from the internet to the concerned country. The central agencies of that country then inform and share the URL with the state. The state then sends a “Tipline” to the cyber cell which investigates it, gets the IP Log address of the device and based on it, detains the person who is in possession of the device” added an investigator.
