Perpetrators of “singithipaathalaya” on social media tracked down

Disturbing videos of young children, in what came to be known as a “singithi pa at halaya ” ( Children’s underworld) have swarmed social media in recent weeks. Children, some as young as six years, were recorded making disturbing threats of violence against each other under names like “Nikaweratiye Sahan”, “Nadeera Max”, and “Sellakara Maliya”. Some videos even had knives for props.

The videos caused outrage across social media as a whole. However, users noted fan pages pitting the children against each other and goading them into virtual confrontations. The chain reaction videos were widely shared across social media with certain celebrities coming under fire for allegedly encouraging violence.

Speaking to the Sunday Times on investigations so far, National Child Protection Authority (NCPA), Chairman Prof. Muditha Vidanapathirana, said, “When I took over the chairmanship at the NCPA on December 2019 I knew that this would be a challenge. Crimes against children have gone into the cyberspace .” Prof. Muditha pointed out that the NCPA has the legal instruments o deal with cybercrimes. Measures had been taken earlier this year to strengthen the Cyber Crime Surveillance Unit of the Authority with the recruitment of specialist staff. Reports reach the NCPA via three main sources-- The 1929 hotline, the CCSU’s surveillance, and though letters, phone calls, and faxes.

The “indecent threatening videos and photographs and videos” circulating on social media had come under the Authority’s radar about a week ago.

“The protocol we generally follow doesn’t involve us blocking the account, because it usually just results in another one popping up almost immediately, so the menace isn’t stopped,” Prof.Muditha said.

Outlining the protocol they follow when dealing with such crimes, Prof. Muditha said the Authority first tries to locate the URL of the original post. After that is located the authorities will then attempt to find the physical locations of the involved parties. Once that is done the regional child protection officers and the local police get involved. "We then report t he URL to t he Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL)," Prof. Muditha said.

However, if the authority is unable to find the physical locations swiftly it will then forward the relevant profiles to the Criminal Investigation Division, the Cyber Unit of the University of Colombo, CERT Sri Lanka , and, in some instances, Facebook’s mother company. AA collaborated effort is then taken to find the relevant physical locations after which the above protocols are followed.

However, in some situations where the physical location is not found the account information is handed over to the TRCSL so that they can be blocked permanently.

This was the protocol that was followed with regard to the videos that were released last week. Parents and the adults who were guilty of grooming the children were arrested. Children were taken into police custody too. They were from the Medrirgirya, Kaduganawa, Kuliapitiya, and Madampe. They were punished under 286 A of the Penal Code of Sri Lanka which deals with obscene publication or exhibition of content relating to children.

While most of the videos involved the children recording themselves, a select few involved parents coaxing children from behind the cameras. In the cases where parents were unaware, of the videos they will still be charged with negligence. The punishment involves 2- 10 years imprisonment and a fine.

If the child is of culpable age, twelve years or older and below the age of 16, they will be sent to certified schools. If they are above the age of 16 they will be sent to Juvenile Offender’s Training Schools. “But we didn’t do that in this case. We placed them under probationary supervision with their parents instead,” said Prof. Muditha. The parents who were involved had been warned with legal action and arrest should the offence reoccur.

After intervention from the authorities, one of the children, “Nikaweratiye Sahan”, was recorded apologising for his “Facebook live.” He also admitted he made the video for his personal enjoyment and out of his own volition. However, a screen recording of a Facebook/messenger chat that was later released pointed to the contrary. The recording which was released to the public from an anonymous account showed a group of adults advising the young boy to release a video of a violent nature and grooming him on the content. With promises of a “sup” the adults successfully get the young child to create and share a video of himself using obscene language and threatening various acts of violence against his “paathale” rivals.

These groomers were arrested from a location in Ratnapura on Thursday and will be charged and prosecuted accordingly.

Prof. Muditha also added a word of advice to parents and guardians across Sri Lanka, “If you have given your child an electronic device and access to the internet you have to closely supervise their behaviour in order to avoid this kind of situation.”