Odisha’s urban areas, especially the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, are witnessing a sharp increase in cyber crimes. It is no longer an innocuous prank by a technical savvy youngster. The pattern of crime reflects unambiguous mentality of the accused to commit crimes of different kinds, says a senior police official.
Sources in Department of Home (DoH) reveal that though established during 2006, the Cyber Crime police station till around 2011 was registering a very few cases. In fact, the years 2009, 2010 and 2011 witnessed registration of only one case each. From 2012 onwards, there has been a quantum jump in number of FIRs registered with the Cyber Crime police.
While 10 cases were registered in 2012, the number went up to 16 in 2013, and this year till the end of May, eight cases have already been registered. The Cyber Crime police station authorities expect to register nearly 20 cases on the basis of the trend of reporting of FIRs during 2014.The natures of the reported cases include fraudulent online transaction, identity theft, uploading of pornographic materials, sending of offensive e-mails, cyber stalking, cyber defamation, etc,, revealed the top cop.
Jilted lovers harassing young women by sending offensive messages or by uploading pictures of intimate moments with a view to defaming are being increasingly reported. All such offences are punishable under the provisions of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 and the accused can be imprisoned up to three years, besides paying fine.
With a current strength of three Inspectors and two Sub-Inspectors, the Cyber Crime police station is grossly understaffed to deal with the crimes. While the strength needs to be augmented, the personnel must also gain professional expertise through training and exposure programs, says a DoH official.
The police station should also acquire the latest hardware and software essential for investigation of cases. The only police station at the Crime Branch Headquarters in Cuttack is surely inadequate to meet the increasing workload. Many people from Bhubaneswar are reluctance ton go to Cuttack for filing of complaints.
There is also hesitation on the part of the local police to register cyber crimes. Hence, the State Government has proposed to establish a second Cyber Crime police station in Bhubaneswar under the administrative control of the Crime Branch, said an official.
Though fund provisions were made for the proposed Bhubaneswar Cyber Crime police station, construction of a building is yet to be undertaken because of avoidable wrangling over land allotment. In view of the pressing need, a small patch of land at a vantage location should be identified and alienated so that construction of the building can commence immediately, said a harassed complainant, who is running to Cuttack for harassment in cyber space.
The authorities of all the districts have been ordered by the State Government to establish Cyber Cells in their headquarters. These cells function under the charge of an Inspector and are expected to take up investigation of cyber crimes reported in the district.
Unfortunately, however, these cells are yet to become effective, and in many districts their establishment is notional in nature. General public are yet not informed about establishment of such cells, and even though approached with FIRs, the cells on many occasions are not entertaining complaints on one ground or the other, rued the official.
With Odisha fast emerging as a hub of IT activities, inclination of Odia youths to be proficient in computer is manifested. And empowered with the knowledge of the cyber world, its misuse for wrongful activities is bound to increase, said a senior IT professional.While anonymity and swiftness are advantages of cyber criminals, lack of professional knowledge of the police at the cutting edge level is a major handicap, admitted top cops.
To add to the problems, resource inadequacy is another constraint, and the State Forensic Science laboratory (SFSl) does not have a cyber forensic division as yet, for which all the seized computes are being sent to the Central Forensic Science laboratory, Kolkata or Hyderabad for forensic examination, revealed sources.
The police need to gear up in terms of their professional competence and technical knowhow to handle the cyber crimes and a Cyber Forensic Division which is in the process of being set up in the SFSl should become operational at the earliest, said a top cop.Reluctance on the part of officials of police stations to investigate cyber crimes must be broken through training and sensitisation, said a cyber crime expert, who wanted that victims should also be encouraged to report such offences freely.
Unless the enforcement machinery is geared up, urban areas would witness a spurt in cyber crimes which would cause tremendous physical and mental damages to many innocent and unsuspecting victims, warned a senior official in Department of Home.