194 POCSO cases pending in Mizoram courts: MSCPCR Chairperson

Aizawl, June 25: Mizoram State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MSCPCR) chairperson Jimmy Laltlanmawia on Tuesday said that there are currently 194 under-trial cases under the POCSO Act in various district courts across the state.

The statement comes during a press meet held in Aizawl regarding an accused  who was arrested recently in a case involving sexual assault of a minor and possession and circulation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Mizoram State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MSCPCR) has demanded stringent punishment against the man

Speaking to reporters in MSCPCR chairperson Jimmy Laltlanmawia said that the accused Lalrampana was arrested by CBI on June 9 for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor and uploading a video of the act online.

"MSCPCR expresses deep regret over the incident and demands stringent punishment against the accused," he said.

Jimmy said that the POCSO act strictly prohibits sexual assault against children and possession or sharing online of child sexual-related video or picture.

Any violator can be convicted with an imprisonment of 5 years and a fine of up to Rs. 10 lakh and another 7 years imprisonment and Rs 10 lakh fine for repeated offence, he said.

Expressing regret over incidents of child sexual abuse in Mizoram, Jimmy said that the commission want that such incidents do not occur any more in the state.

The CBI had tracked the activities of Lalrampana using cyber intelligence, forensic tools and international co-operation mechanisms.

After registering the case on May 30, the CBI pin-pointed his location and raided his premises in Aizawl on June 4 during which incriminated digital devices were seized.

The agency alleged that the accused was creating, collecting, storing and uploading child sexual abuse material (CSAM), in violation of laws.

Subsequent forensic examination revealed a substantial cache of child abuse content, including graphic images and videos, a CBI spokesperson had said earlier.

These materials were corroborated with data from Interpol's International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) database as well as Cyber Tipline Reports (CTRs) generated by Google and shared with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), Ministry of Home Affairs, he had said.

The analysis further uncovered that a minor had been threatened and sexually assaulted by the accused.

The case was detected suo motu by the CBI, as neither the victim nor the family had complained about the incident to any law enforcement agency prior to CBI's intervention, the CBI had said in a statement.

-PTI