Maharashtra Cyber Police creates portal for registration of sexual offences against women, minors

Nearly three weeks after the police busted a WhatsApp group in which was used to share child pornography in Maharashtra, the state cyber police department has reportedly launched a web portal to help residents report sexual offences against women and children in order to curb the spread of sexually abusive content depicting children and/or rape and gangrape of women. The portal, http://www.cyberpolice.gov.in (inaccessible at the time of publishing this article), according to The Indian Express, started operating on a trial basis on 1 August, and is aimed to curb rising spread of child pornography and other sexually abusive content in the state. [caption id="" align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Complainants registered on the Maharashtra Cyber Police portal will receive a status report within 72 hours, the police was quoted as saying. “The portal is aimed at helping residents quickly report all instances of sexual crimes against women and children. Investigations would be initiated on the basis of these complaints. The attempt is to provide a prompt service,” said Balsing Rajput, SP of Maharashtra Cyber, the state police’s arm that tackles cyber crimes told the newspaper. The portal is in response to the Supreme Court order, passed  nearly eight months ago , on a letter (along with two rape videos in a pen-drive) that Hyderabad-based NGO Prajwala had sent in 2015 to then Chief Justice of India HL Dattu, and is likely to be connected to  cybercrime.gov.in, a portal run by the Ministry of Home Affairs, which facilitates online registration (including anonymous reporting) of complaint on sexually abusive content. The top court had on its own taken cognisance of the letter about the posting of these videos on WhatsApp and asked CBI to launch a probe to apprehend the culprits. The NGO’s letter had also mooted the idea of maintaining a national sex offenders’ register which should contain details of persons convicted for offences like eve-teasing, stalking, molestation and other sexual assaults. With inputs from agencies