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40% of Capital's cyber crime targets women

Date: December 16, 2004
Source: THE TIMES OF INDIA
By: Bhadra Sinha, Times News Network

NEW DELHI: As the Delhi Police investigate an increasing number of cyber crimes, investigators are realising that almost half the cases reported have women at the receiving end of malice in cyberland.

There are typical examples. In October this year, the crime branch was approached by a west Delhi-based beautician who claimed her photograph was flashed on a porno portal along with her mobile number.

"Her face had been morphed on a naked woman's body. Somebody had done it to trouble her. As a result she received obscene messages and calls from several persons wanting to meet her, including some from outside Delhi," said a police officer.

The case, however, remains unsolved as the police could not trace the person responsible for the misdeed. Despite the three-year-old Information Technology Act (I-T), 2000, the cyber crime cell of Delhi Police has registered just 40 cases. 40% of these cases remain unsolved. This year eight cases were registered, but the police could work out only two.

But even amongst the modest number of cyber crimes reported, an analysis reveals that almost 40% target innocent victims, whose faces are morphed on pornographic websites or posted on message boards to tarnish their image. "In each case the complainant has learnt about his or her face on the website after receiving a call on their cellphones, inquiring about a meeting place," the officer added.

He recalls the first cyber crime case, registered three years ago, in which a class XII student was arrested for allegedly putting up obscene messages of his class teacher and a female classmate on a self-created website. The case was registered at the behest of the girl's father.

"We undertook a painstaking investigation to crack the case. After days of writing to the portal, we managed to track the student who was arrested later," the officer said. The case is at the moment pending trial in a juvenile court. Metropolitan magistrate Santosh Snehi Mann has already framed charges against the boy, who is now an adult. The police are yet to submit evidence before the court, following which the defence will start with theirs.

As far as the high number of untraced cases are concerned, the police blame the lacunae in the I-T Act. "The Act does not give us enough teeth to initiate action against portals who function from abroad. Like in the present DPS MMS case, the portal's headquarters are in Mumbai and, therefore, the case was cracked in less than a week's time. In cases where the websites originate on a foreign server, it becomes difficult to persuade them to discharge with information," the officer said.


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2005-05-02 18:25:43 - Cyber security is something serious to be... Rishabh
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