Aurangabad: Taking serious cognizance of the increasing hatred on social media, the spreading of defamatory, false and inappropriate content, making vulgar comments and trolling, Latur superintendent of police Nikhil Pingale has started a weekly workshop for the parents of children found indulging in online ‘inappropriate’ and illegal behaviour.
The move is a first of its kind initiative in the state, if not the country, said deputy inspector general of police Nisar Tamboli and indicated that it will be replicated in other four districts soon.
At the end of the workshop, the parents will also be given a written ultimatum mentioning that as parents they are expected to keep a track of their minor kids’ activities online, failing which they could invite registration of an offence.
“If we do not make the children realize the legal and social consequences of misusing social media, in near future, it will directly take a toll on these kids’ careers and they will end up contributing to the damage to the country’s social fabric,” said Pingale.
The officer said that as the schools were conducting classes online for the past two years, there has been an unprecedented rise in the number of social media users, who are minors.
“Failure of the parents to keep a tab on the online activities of their kids, is turning a boon into a bane,” said Pingale, a 2014 batch IPS officer, who warned that any minor found violating the law for the second time, will be booked.
Authorities maintained that the increasing number of incidents in which minors are found on the wrong side of the law, have been coming to the cyber police’s notice and these incidents compelled Pingale to come up with the idea of starting counselling-warning sessions. As per the initiative, the cybercrime branch will identify minors found misusing social media and submit the record to the higher-ups every week.
Accordingly, the office of the deputy superintendent of police (city division) will summon the parents for a counselling session to brief them about the acts of their wards and also the legal and social consequences of such acts if they fail to mend their ways.
The first such session of half a dozen parents was held earlier on Monday and the police authorities said that it was a closed-door affair, as they did not want the parents to feel embarrassed. One of the parents, a teacher by profession, said, “I never knew that my 17-year-old son was doing all this nonsense on social media. Now, the police have shown me ways to keep a tab on his activities, we are going to do it.”