The state police’s cyber-crime prevention department, Maharashtra Cyber, has become the country’s first agency to obtain a state-of-the-art software to track suspects of child pornography and related offences. Called ‘Crawler’, it was procured from the Interpol’s south Asian wing and will be used in Operation Blackface, the state’s call to action against child sexual abuse.

As per a report in Mumbai Mirror, confirming the development, Maharashtra Cyber’s Special Inspector General of Police, Yashasvi Yadav, said, “To protect the innocence of children and crack down on perpetrators, we have provided the best training and tools to our TRACE team.” The police’s TRACE (Tactical Response against Cyber Child Exploitation) unit seeks to counter the rising number of cases of child pornography/abuse.