In a reply given in Loksabha, the MOS for Communications and IT Mr Milind Deora submitted that Cyber Crimes in India are on the increase. According to the minister, 16035 instances of attacks of various kinds were reported only on Government assets upto June in the current calender year. This was in comaprision to 13301 instances in 2011 and 22060 in 2012. (See Report).
In sharp contrast the home minister of Karntaka recently made a statement in the Karnataka Assembly that in 2011 and 2012 only 74 cyber crime cases were registered in Karnataka.
Even in Tamil Nadu, the Police recently stated that they had registered that 42 cyber crime cases were registered last year and 17 more in the current year.
The NCRB also states that in the entire country the number of cyber crime cases registered is in the order of around 4000.
From the above reports, it is clear that there is a serious mismatch in what the industry considers as “Security Breaches” or “Cyber Attacks” and what the Police record as “Cyber Crimes” though the two should be considered as one and the same. The objective of recording Cyber Crimes is not to estimate how efficient is the Police in solving the crime but to understand the impact of the crime in the society so that the Governments can provide the necessary support to the Police to fight the menace. By grossly under reporting the crime, the Police are doing a disservice to themselves since they cannot justify either better training or forensic facilities to be provided for fighting the crime.
In Karnataka where there is a good infrastructure for Cyber Crime investigation, the facility will remain grossly under utilized if it has to deal with just 30 to 40 cases in an year. Reluctance of Police in certain places to file FIRs for Cyber Crimes ensures that FIRs are not registered in most cases and hence criminals see a very bleak chance of them being punished.
There is a need to change this practice. We need an online cyber crime registration facility which automatically registers all complaints and generates complaint acknowledgements. The acknowledgements can be confirmed later by the Police in the form of FIRs after primafacie investigation. If complaints are not converted into FIRs there has to be a specific justification provided by the Police.
Only when we have such a rigorous system of recording the crime statistics we will have a ground for Cyber Crime mitigation investment including Cyber Crime insurance.
The situation in Karnataka is the worst in the country. Here the Police and the Judiciary conspire to make the state a safe haven for Cyber Criminals. While the Police like the rest in the country are not eager to register complaints from the public, the Adjudicator is not keen to receive complaints from the public despite goading by the State Human Rights Commission.
To top it all the Karnataka High Court has also by its own judgement effectively barred filing of complaints either by companies or on companies for financial remedy as provided in the Information Technology Act 2008. It appears that the Karnataka High Court has not even recognized that it has itself created a huge void in the delivery of Cyber Crime justice in Karnataka. Though this matter has been brought to the notice of all authorities, there is either a reluctance to make necessary changes or complete ignorance.
I hope the honourable Chief Justice of Karnataka will personally examine why a citizen of Karnataka is making a statement that Karnataka High Court is itself the cause of obstruction of justice delivery and take steps to rectify the system.
I also hope that the honurable Chief Minister of the State also recognizes his responsibility in ensuring that Karnataka does not get a tag as the “Cyber Crime Haven of India”.
Naavi as a Citizen of Karnataka
Government of India must think of launching a Portal for recording instances of Cyber Crime especially fin-e-crime i.e. financial cyber crime as it is a very neglected area, Government machinery’s focus on cyber attach on governments websites only. Some voluntary websites are there to report such crime but a portal launched by government will be more useful