A State That Acts: Political Will and Police Initiative Against Online Child Sexual Exploitation & Abuse

The Supreme Court has spoken. Telangana has acted. It is now time for others to follow.

In an age where digital connectivity brings both empowerment and exposure, protecting children online is no longer optional, it is imperative. Our country has been grappling with the complex and growing threat of online child sexual exploitation, one state has offered a compelling model of what is possible when political will aligns with proactive policing: Telangana.

In the month of June, in a landmark operation, the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) with strong support from the Child Protection Unit (CPU) established by India Child Protection (ICP) arrested 15 repeat offenders for the possession and viewing of Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Material (CSEAM) and the offenders were linked to 57 Tipline complaints. This resulted in 34 FIRs filed (under section 65 B IT act and section 15 of POCSO act) in a single coordinated operation, and all accused have been remanded to judicial custody.

What stands out is not just the number of arrests, but the systemic shift behind them. The Legal deterrence was a cornerstone of the state's strategy.

The Telangana's CPU, was established in February 2025, during the SHIELD conference, led by Chief Minister Shri Anumula Revanth Reddy and in collaboration with India Child Protection. The SHIELD conference was the largest national level conclave on cyber threat and CSEAM.

The creation of the CPU has transformed passive digital surveillance into active threat tracking. With the support of ICP's child protection analysts and TGCSB's cyber officers, raw data was converted into actionable intelligence, allowing police to identify and apprehend serial predators involved in cybercrime against children, including repeated offenders, verify evidence, and take swift legal action.

Since the creation of the CPU, 294 FIRs have been filed and 110 arrests made. For perspective, the previous two years saw just 37 FIRs and 34 arrests. This is not a coincidence. It is the outcome of focused governance, institutional capacity-building, and a refusal to treat crimes against children as low-priority offences. As these offences are often organised crime. Such online crimes against children constitute organized criminal activities that often involve financial transactions, highlighting how this is an organised digital cross border crime.

What makes Telangana's model particularly relevant today, is its alignment with evolving legal doctrine. In September 2024, the honourable Supreme Court of India, in its landmark judgment in Just Rights for Children vs. S. Harish, has explicitly affirmed the urgent need to safeguard children from online sexual abuse.

A strong message of legal deterrence was conveyed, underscoring the urgency of addressing CSEAM-related crimes. The Court emphasized that constitutional protections for children must extend to the digital space, and called replacing of the term Child pornography to CSEAM in the Indian law. The term CSEAM emphases the abuse faced by the victim and it is exploitative when that abuse is shared and circulated for monetary gain. Furthermore, the word pornography means content that is created between two consenting adults, however when a child is involved it is a criminal crime.

The judgement has emphasized on (1) Stricter enforcement of existing laws (2) Stronger institutional coordination (3) The judgment has mandated the reporting of CSEAM by intermediaries and recommended sex education, capacity-building efforts, and other preventive measures. (4) Viewing, storing, or possessing, and the circulation of CSEAM is a criminal offense, regardless of whether there was an intent to distribute this content.

This judicial pronouncement adds a powerful layer of legal legitimacy to the kind of action Telangana has initiated. It reaffirms that the responsibility to prevent online child sexual exploitation is not limited to law enforcement but it must also include executive initiative, civil society collaboration, and judicial oversight.

The partnership between TGCSB-ICP exemplifies how this can be operationalized. The CPU integrates forensic and cyber expertise who track and identify CSEAM circulation networks and prompt, evidence-based action.

But the cornerstone of Telangana's approach remains its political will and support from the law enforcement agencies. The Telangana leadership has actively taken a resolute step to protect the children, and make online child abuse as a governance priority, and the Telangana state cyber bureau under the supervision of the director of TGCSB DG Shikha Goel, reaffirms the responsibility of tackling of CSEAM, considering how in 2023 there were 8,923,738 cyber Tipline cases of CSEAM reported in India alone.

Furthermore, the state has not only invested in building capacity but has also empowered the police with autonomy, resources, and public support to act swiftly even when the investigations span multiple jurisdictions or involve sophisticated digital platforms.

These are the three critical lessons from the Telangana model that makes it successful (1) Online child protection requires institutional innovation, not just legal tools (2) Multi-agency collaboration is essential, especially between cyber law enforcement and civil society organization (3) Leadership at the top makes the difference in converting intent into action and policy into practice.

Telangana's crackdown on online child sexual abuse is a powerful reminder that states can act and act decisively when political will meets institutional capability. The combination of targeted police action, data-driven intelligence, and inter-agency collaboration has not only disrupted active offender organized networks but also set a national precedent for how online threats to children should be addressed. They have shown transparency and accountability in the tackling CSEAM case and this level of responsibility should be carried out nationwide.

The next step is national replication. If every state invested in a CPU-like mechanism, supported by forensic and legal training and inter-agency protocols, India could transform its response to online child abuse from fragmented to formidable.

The country has the legal mandate, the technical infrastructure, and the civil society capacity to address online child sexual exploitation. What is needed now is replication and scaling of the Telangana prosecution and deterrence model before the digital threat landscape outpaces our response.

In a digital world where children are increasingly vulnerable, Telangana has drawn a clear line: crimes against children online will be found, confronted, and punished.

Sampurna Behura, Executive Director, India Child Protection (ICP)
ICP is a partner of Just Rights for Children, country's largest NGO network working for child protection.