New Delhi: In a shocking revelation, a Parliamentary committee on Home Affairs has found that states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Goa and Assam do not have a single cyber crime cell while in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, only one of two cyber crime cells have been set up.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Sujeet Kumar, a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs expressed his surprise at the absence of such a critical cell. "It's really surprising that states like Punjab, Rajasthan, which are strategically important for the country, do not have any cyber crime cells," said Kumar.
He said that forces inimical to India's security might always try to attack India using cyber crime as one of the routes. In fact, the central intelligence agencies on many occasions have detected the activities of anti-India forces through cyber world. On the other hand states like Bihar has 75 cyber cells, followed by Maharashtra 47, Odisha 34, West Bengal 33 and so on.
"States which don't have even a single cyber cell or less cyber cells, must take inspiration from others in setting up such cells which are very critical in this present situation," said Kumar, who is a Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP in Rajya Sabha. As per the Parliamentary committee report, India has 376 cyber cells set up in 36 States and UTs followed by 1302 women cell and 262 social media monitoring cell.
The Parliamentary committee headed by Congress MP Anand Sharma has expressed its deep concern over the rising rate of cyber crimes in the country. The committee observed that each day, cyber criminals are using new methods and new modus operandi to commit cyber crimes. "It is important for the police to stay updated on new modus operandi and technology trends adopted by the criminals," the committee said. It has been recommended that MHA may suggest states to set up cyber cells in all districts.
"The states should map the cyber crime hotspots which will help in quick detection of crimes and taking proactive measures to prevent cyber crimes," the committee said. The committee also recommends upgrading the existing cyber cells by setting up dark web monitoring cells and social media monitoring cells to tackle different types of cyber crimes.
To strengthen the investigation of inter-state crimes, the committee recommends that MHA may advise States and UTs that when investigating officers visit outside their jurisdictional state for investigation of a cyber crime, they should be provided with optimum support from the law enforcement agencies of other states and UTs, as required.
The committee notes that some states are using cyber experts for the detection and investigation of cyber crimes. "Therefore, along with traditional police recruitments, there is a need to induct technical experts into the police force. MHA may encourage States and UTs to recruit qualified cyber experts and IT professionals to assist police in detecting, monitoring, preventing and investigating cyber crimes," the Parliamentary committee said.
As per the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), India has registered 21796 cyber crimes in 2017, followed by 27248 in 2018, 44735 in 2019 and 50035 cyber crime cases in 2020.
