THE LOG ARM OF THE LAW

Cyber Cops Ready To Click

Maharashtra Is Poised To Take The Battle Against Increasing E-Crime To The Next Level With A Hi-Tech Police Station

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: The Maharashtra police hope to give a major boost to the InfoTech and callcentre industries in the region as well as improve cyber-crime detection by opening a state-ofthe art Cyber Crime Police Station within a fortnight.

Maharashtra’s first, fullfledged, dedicated Cyber Crime Police Station will start functioning on the first floor of the Bandra-Kurla Complex Police Station in Bandra (East).

Unlike the current Cyber Crime Investigation Cell (CCIC) of the Mumbai police, which has jurisdiction only in the city, the new police station will have statewide jurisdiction. It will also have the power to register FIRs and make arrests, powers that the CCIC do not have.

The 18-member CCIC will be absorbed into the 61-strong police station. While all 84 police stations in the city report to the joint commissioner of police (law and order), personnel from the new police station will report to the joint commissioner (crime).

Police officials said the new facility will help tackle ecrimes as also give a boost to the Business Process Outsourcing and call-centre industry in the region. The only other two dedicated cyber crime police stations in the country are in the Information Technology (IT) meccas of Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Police officials said the police station will be staffed with computer-literate graduates who have been trained in taking down FIRs. They will focus mainly on offences that can be registered under the IT Act, 2000—like money-laundering, hawala transactions and the online flesh trade.

The increasing number of cyber crimes has made it imperative for Maharashtra to get its own dedicated Cyber Crime Police Station, officials said. As technology improves, so do the tools used by criminals, they added.

“We are shifting equipment from the CCIC at Crawford Market to the BKC and the fullfledged cyber police station will become functional within 15 days with added features, advanced technology and improved software,’’ said joint commissioner of police (administration) Hemant Karkare.

The existing CCIC office will be converted into a branch office of the BKC Cyber Crime Police Station.

Karkare said that even if the accused and the victim in a cyber crime are not from Mumbai, but the service provider is from the city, the cyber police station will register the case.

“Rs 50 lakh has been given from the budget for the police modernisation plan to upgrade the cyber police station. Our computers will have anti-virus and anti-hacking software,’’ informed Karkare.
Last year, the Mumbai police had also begun compiling a list of all Internet Protocol addresses in the city. The police wrote to 10 Internet Service Providers asking for the physical address of each terminal served by them.

A senior police officer added that the creation of a cyber crime police station could also attract more IT companies to the region. IT companies are attracted to Bangalore and Hyderabad because the cities afford protection from cyber crime, he said. “Once the police station is started, MNCs may prefer to make Mumbai their base,’’ an officer said.

The BKC police station was constructed at a cost of Rs 3 crore as recently as 2002. It reportedly has good facilities and is said to be one of the city’s better-equipped police stations.

NETTING E-CRIMINALS
HACKING
Hacking has been widely defined in Section 66 of InfoTech (IT) Act
Culprits can be those who have intent to cause, or know that they are likely to cause, an offence
The victim can be “the public’’ or an individual person who has faced wrongful loss or damage of computer information and/or resources

The damage could be caused by destroying, deleting or altering information in a computer resource and/or diminishing its value or utility
Punishment is imprisonment of up to 3 years and/or a fine of up to Rs 2 lakh

OBSCENITY
Section 67 of the IT Act deals with the publishing of obscene electronic information
Victims include those harassed by vulgar e-mails or other computer messages and pictures
Pornographers can also face action under this section
Culprits are those who publish or transmit obscene information, or even cause such information to be published
The information is defined as “any material which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest or if its effect is such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons’’
First conviction is imprisonment of up to 5 years and/or a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh
Second conviction is imprisonment of up to 10 years and/or a fine of up to Rs 2 lakh

COMPENSATION
Victims cannot get more than Rs 1 crore for damage to computers, computer systems and so on

The Times of India, January 16, 2008