West Bengal Police file FIR against Meta-owned Instagram in POCSO case, tags it as co-accused

In a significant development, the West Bengal police have implicated Meta-owned Instagram as a co-accused in the case related to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The cyber police station of Dakshin Dinajpur district filed a First Information Report (FIR) on April 11, naming Instagram as a co-accused under Section 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, as well as Section 67 (B) of the Information Technology (IT) Act of 2000, the Economic Times reported. The move comes on the back of growing concerns regarding the proliferation of indecent content involving children and Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) on the social media platform.

The complaint was lodged by the victim under the guidance of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, its chairperson Priyank Kanoongo told CNBC TV18. Under the POSCO Act, Section 12 prescribes strict penalties, including a prison sentence of up to three years and a fine for the offender. Furthermore, this offense is considered non-bailable under the precedents set by various high courts throughout the country.

Under Section 67 (B) of the IT Act, the dissemination of sexually explicit material involving children through electronic means carries severe penalties. Offenders may face imprisonment for up to five years and fines up to Rs 10 lakh for first-time violations, with penalties escalating to seven years imprisonment and similar fines for subsequent offences.

This legal action is a result of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issuing notices to several social media platforms in October, requesting them to remove child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from their platforms. The notices were issued due to concerns raised about the presence of such material on the platforms.