The importance to understand the world of crime in the Cyber Space and
Technology had been given a priority in India as the crime busted unexpectedly
in the Cyber Space and as the criminals became mastermind in the execution of
their illegal activities with the use of modern world technologies like
computers, smart phones, laptops and other latest digital technologies.
The main object to have a keen observation and study in the area of Cyber
Crimes is to stop various kinds of modern crimes like forgery, cheating,
blackmailing, theft, robbery, dacoity, etc done with the negative use of
technologies and to understand the paten, style or model of the Cyber Criminals
with the motive to eradicate or to reduce the Cyber Crime rate in India and for
the betterment of the world.
That with the continuous increase of use of e – commerce and e –
governance, specifically in this 21th century the computer technologies had even
made very easy, fast and possible for the people to communicate with each other
by dynamic means to transfer information by sending messages, video calling,
text chat etc. Thus being helpful in regulating their business/work in various
parts of the world through internet. Such rampant use of various digital
technologies had raised a wide variety of legal issues such as piracy, violation
of intellectual property, pornography, violation of copy rights, jurisdiction,
etc.
Judiciary:
That due to the increase in Cyber Crime in India there are various Special
Courts established by the government for the purpose to try the cases related to
Cyber Crime thus even reducing the work load of the common court of law.
That for the purpose of further efficiency in delivering the judgments in
the interest of justice, special training in area of Cyber Offences is given to
the Judicial Officers, Prosecutions and Police Personnels.
That the establishment of Special Courts is essential because the regular
courts feels handicapped to decide the cases related to Cyber Crimes because of
the lack of Information Technological expertise.
Regulation of Social Networking Sites:
Social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. has been
beneficial for the masses and brought friends together but they have also
destroyed the life of so many users who were trapped by the wrong people with
fake identities. From creating fake profiles of girls to getting involved in
murders, the misuse of social networking sites has been on the rise in recent
years.
The involvement of the teenagers on such social networking sites had even
created a huge impact on their growth in mentally, physically and all over
growth of a them, thus their activities on social media is even eventually
resulting in various types of Cyber Crimes like child pornography, abetment to
suicide, cyber defamation, kidnapping, extortions, black mailing, threatening
and even out raging the modesty of women by using the various social media
platforms. Hence, social media becoming a tool for execution of modern world
crime and a forum for criminals even having a basic knowledge of modern
technology.
India’s Cybercrime Scenario: Ground Situation:
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), in 2016 a total of 12,187
cyber crime cases were registered all over India when compared to 11,331 cases
registered in 2015. There was 20.50 per cent increase in the number of cyber
crime cases in 2015 over 2014 and 6.3 per cent increase in cases in 2016 over
2015.
The cyber crime scenario in our country does not truly reflect the existing
situation on the ground. According to the National Crime 57 Records Bureau (NCRB),
in 2016 a total of 12,187 cyber crime cases were registered all over India when
compared to 11,331 cases registered in 2015. There was 20.50 per cent increase
in the number of cyber crime cases in 2015 over 2014 and 6.3 per cent increase
in cases in 2016 over 2015.
As far as the number of cybercrime cases is concerned, Uttar Pradesh with a
figure of 2,639 registered the maximum number of cases followed by Maharashtra
(2380), and Karnataka (1101). Tamil Nadu registered 172 cases in 2014 which
dropped to 142 in 2015 and marginally increased to 144 in 2016. Among the
Metropolitan cities, Mumbai with 980 cases stood first followed by Bengaluru 762
and Jaipur 532. Chennai city with 26 cases was ranked 16 among metros.
Judicial Decisions:
The Bank NSP Case
One of the leading cybercrime cases is the Bank NSP case is the one where a
management trainee of the bank was engaged to be married. The couple exchanged
many emails using the company computers. After some time the two broke up and
the girl created fraudulent email ids such as "indianbarassociations" and sent
emails to the boy's foreign clients. She used the bank’s computer to do this.
The boy's company lost a large number of clients and took the bank to court. The
bank was held liable for the emails sent using the bank's system.
Andhra Pradesh Tax Case
Dubious tactics of a prominent businessman, from Andhra Pradesh, were exposed
after officials of the department got hold of computers, used by the accused in
one of the many cyber fraud cases in India. The owner of a plastics firm was
arrested and Rs 22 crore cash, was recovered from his house by sleuths of the
Vigilance Department. They sought an explanation from him regarding the
unaccounted cash within 10 days. The accused submitted 6,000 vouchers, to prove
the legitimacy of trade and thought his offence would go undetected but after
careful scrutiny of vouchers and contents of his computers, it was revealed that
all of them were made after the raids were conducted. It was later revealed that
the accused was running five businesses under the guise of one company and used
fake and computerized vouchers to show sales records and save tax.
Bazee.com case
CEO of Bazee.com was arrested in December 2004 because a CD with objectionable
material was being sold on the website. The CD was also being sold in the
markets in Delhi. The Mumbai Police and the Delhi Police got into action. The
CEO was later released on bail. This opened up the question as to what kind of
distinction we draw between Internet Service Provider and Content Provider. The
burden rests on the accused that he was the Service Provider and not the Content
Provider. It also raises a lot of issues regarding how the police should handle
cybercrime cases.
Conclusion And Suggestions:
That in the ground level situations, the proper execution of the
concerned laws and the keen probe by an Investigating Personnel plays an
important role in delivering speedy and accurate justice to an aggrieved
persons/victims but the lack of awareness of the rights and laws made for the
citizens of the country can even result in slow down and effect the India’s
chain of justice delivering system.
The formation of a statutory supervisory body to meet accuracy and
transparency in duties and powers of Investigation Agencies can prove to be of
good impact for irradiation and reduction of Cyber Crimes or Crimes on whole.
The proper training to the various executive powers and judicial
authorities for exercising the cases related to Cyber Crimes and organization of
various awareness camps by government can be beneficial and fruitful for the
society and its positive growth.
Bibliography:
- Indian Penal Code, 1860.
- Information Technology Act, 2000.
- Call for Special Courts to try Cyber Crimes, The Hindu, August 30,
2006, p5
- Writer is DR K. JAYANTH MURALI Additional Director General of Police and
Director, DVAC, Chennai. The views expressed in this article are that of the
author and not of the government) - Link - https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/crime/200718/indias-cybercrime-scenario-ground-situation-alarming.html
- https://www.cyberralegalservices.com/detail-casestudies.php
Written By: Adv. Ankit Tandon - Bombay High Court.
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