Worried over the rise in the number of sexual violence clips circulating on the internet, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday that men are to blame for the rise in pornography on the web.
Stating this on an affidavit in the SC, the premier investigating agency, which batted for a central agency to investigate and prosecute cyber crimes solely, he said the increase of porn in Indian cyberspace is on account of the domineering male population’s “insatiable lust” and “penchant for salacious material.” The affidavit came in response to a PIl filed by NGO Prajwala which drew the attention of the court to some disturbing sexual violence videos where perpetrators showed no remorse or fear of the law while filming the rape of innocent girls and women.
Though the CBI was required to state whether it was agreeable to the suggestion of a specialised central agency to probe cyber crimes in general, the agency went on to make several comments having potential to kick up a controversy.
Treating the dominating male population in the country as a potential market, the agency said: “The cyber-porn invasion of Indian cyber ecosystem is also on account of the huge market potential carried by a large population like India, particularly the domineering male population that has time and again shown an insatiable lust and penchant for salacious material, including violence against women.”
In order to arrest the trend and punish perpetrators of such crimes, which it termed national crimes, for it concerned safety of young women and children, the CBI said that it was high time that a central law enforcement authority was vested with the power to investigate and prosecute all cyber crimes.
Also, being a new age crime which is borderless and on a virtual medium, tracking cyber offenders becomes a difficult task for the traditional State police agencies. This requires expertise and experience, both of which are available only with an organization like the CBI, it added.
Commenting on the rise in rapes, the affidavit filed by T Rajah Balaji, Superintendent of Police, Special Crimes Branch, even spoke on rapid urbanization and its effect on the youth that is leading to a rise in cyber crimes.
It said: “The sharp rise in rapes with the ubiquity of internet-enabled pornography, coupled with the forces of rapid urbanization that lead to disconnected lives of youth have produced a complex social crisis in this country, which can be correlated to the rampant proliferation of such (cyber) crimes.” For this reason too, the agency batted for an inter-State, inter-jurisdictional authority, stretching even to international limits, to deal with cyber crimes and ensure deterrence for such offenders.
At present there is a cyber crime investigation unit within the CBI which liaisons with international agencies to track cyber crime offenders. Also a Joint Secretary of CBI is posted with Interpol as Director of Cyber Outreach and Innovation Centre. But all complaints of cyber crimes do not get reported to the CBI as such complaints often go to State police organizations, which face jurisdictional issues besides lack of technical expertise.
The agency claimed it had the expertise to suo moto deal with such complaints and required the court to pass such an order in the interest of preserving the dignity of women. It also agreed with another suggestion of the petitioner NGO to depute an officer of CBI of the rank of SP to be posted with social networking sites such as Google, Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Yahoo, Hike and Bing to ensure speedy detection and prosecution of offenders.