The Delhi Police on Friday arrested 97 people during its operation against child pornography that started two days ago, ANI reported on Friday. As many as 162 cases were registered in police stations across the national Capital.

The operation, called Mitigation of Adolescent Sexually Offensive Online Material, or “Masoom”, was conducted by the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations unit, according to Deputy Commission of Police KPS Malhotra, The Print reported.

The special unit had received details of violations related to child pornographic content through the National Crime Records Bureau.

“At the IFSO unit, the details received from NCRB are analysed for the purpose of identification of any organised nexus,” Malhotra said. “The IFSO unit analyses all the inputs and identifies the suspects. Thereafter, the information is disseminated with the concerned officers to take further necessary legal action.”

The National Crime Records Bureau was aided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a United States-based non-profit organisation, in collating the data on violations pertaining to child pornography, The Print reported.

The US body constantly examines the content on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram and flags it to the authorities in case of violations. It also tracks the Internet Protocol, or IP, address of the users who upload such content.

The not-for-profit organisation has been providing information on sexually exploitative content to the National Crime Records Bureau since 2019. It had also forwarded complaints received on CyberTipline – a US-based reporting system for the online exploitation of children.

The National Crime Records Bureau then shares this information with state nodal agencies, like Delhi’s Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations which deals with violations related to child pornography.

In 2019, this special unit of the Delhi Police had initiated a similar drive against child pornography based on the inputs received from the National Crime Records Bureau.