Kerala: A tough lesson for child sex whistleblower

Thiruvananthapuram: Jaljith Thottoli is upset. Only days ago, he was hailed as a hero in social media for helping to bust Poombatta, a chat group of child sex abusers, in the messaging app Telegram. But a press release by the Kerala Police Cyberdome has shaken him up, because it suggested that certain members in the group have tried to escape by claiming to have joined it on the pretext of monitoring it. Jaljith, who has a history of reporting such pages that catered to paedophilia, says this is highly discouraging for a civilian, in intervening in such matters.

“There are personal reasons too for me to intervene. There are paedophilia survivors in the family and among those around me. So I am more sensitive,” he says.

It was in March 2015 that he gave a complaint against the Facebook page, Kochu Sundarikal. He had first got a reply from cyber cell that the admin was in Saudi Arabia and therefore, outside their jurisdiction. The page was however shut down.

“But in September 2015, it resurfaced. I came to know of this because I was an admin of a Facebook page called Sexually Frustrated Mallu, that was used to trap those indulging in online sexual abuse and harrassment. We got a tip from an anonymous id about Kochu Sundarikal. I gave a second complaint, and then there was an arrest. A Malappuram native called Ummar and eight others were busted.”

He has been watching out for such groups when someone told him about Poombatta in Telegram. He got a tipoff that subscribing to a channel called Nadan Thundu might give a lead.

On November 22, he got a message that the group was opening again. He got the link with the help of a media friend. As soon as he got in, he called a friend in the cyber police station who directed him to bring the content and give a complaint. “Around 2.20 pm the same day, I directly went to the cyber police station with screenshots and videos and gave a complaint. I also forwarded a mail to IG (Crimes), Sreejith sir, as directed. They asked me to stay in the group, as they would need further proof.”

On November 25, he got the number of the group admin and passed it on to the cyber police. “After that there was no update. On December 20, I saw a newsbreak that someone called Sharaf Ali was arrested in such a case. But I was not informed. I doubted if it was my case, and went to see Sreejith sir about it. He said he would  let me know. Later I got to know through a media friend that it was the same case that I complained about.

“But what really upset me is the suggestion that I pretended to be a whistleblower when it was certain I’d be caught. I am also disappointed at how such cases always end with one arrest. The girls were posing unsuspectingly and smilingly. It is obvious it was taken by someone they knew well, perhaps a neighbour or a cousin. I hope there’s an investigation in that direction. But I am just a regular civilian with no money power or influence. I am not interested in intervening in such matters again, because of the way I am painted in the end.”