Thiruvananthapuram: Predators are on the prowl to trap minors through the social media in the state. A 16-year-old girl here fell a prey to a TikTok friend and nearly committed suicide after he tried to blackmail her. The 20-year-old boy lured her into a love trap and clicked her pictures which he circulated on the social media.
The Kerala State Council for Child Welfare (KSCCW) intervened on Thursday and complained to the police seeking action against the perpetrator.
"We received a complaint from the victim's mother two days back. The girl, a Plus-Two student, was depressed for days. Her mother noticed the change in her behaviour and talked to her, when she revealed the trauma faced by her. We are giving counselling to the girl and will follow up the case," said K. Bahuleyan Nair, state coordinator of Thanal, an initiative of KSCCW.
According to the police, a PoCSO case would be charged against the boy. "The statement of the complainant would be collected and a case would be charged," said the police.
General secretary of the Child Council S.P. Deepak said that hundreds of cases were being reported in the state on child harassment via social media applications and mobile phones. "The mobile is being widely misused and often parents fail to monitor the activities of the children online. They become friends with strangers and get trapped," said Deepak.
Former member of Child Rights Commission J.Sandhya said that it was impossible to prohibit the usage of mobile phones or computer among children. "It's the responsibility of the adults around the children to recognise the problem. They should be told why we restrict the usage of mobile phones. Such talks do not happen now. Children have a tendency to do things which are denied to them. Nowadays even the learning materials are being accessed via websites," said Sandhya.
Father P.D. Thomas of ChildLine said that they also receive many complaints relating to online harassment. The ChildLine made around 12,018 interventions during 2017-2018, of which many were online harassment cases.
