Cyber crime cases up 50% in India

According to The Times of India AHMEDABAD: Gujarat has reported an almost 50% rise in crimes under the Information Technology Act, 2000. Compared to 35 cases in 2010, 2011 reported 52 cases as per the 'Crime In India' report published by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Twenty cases were registered under IPC sections this year, against 15 the previous year. From the cases reported, the highest came from Ahmedabad (36), followed by Vadodara (10). Surat and Rajkot reported one and two cases respectively.

Nationally, Andhra Pradesh (349) ranked first, followed by Maharashtra (306) and Kerala (227). In cities, Bangalore (117) reported the most incidents while Visakhapatnam (107) and Pune (83) ranked second and third.

Nationally, most cases were reported about loss of computer resources and obscene publications online. All over the country 157 cases of hacking were reported and 65 persons were arrested for the offence. Other offences include misuse of digital signatures, forging digital documents, unauthorized access and breach of confidentiality.

State police arrested 36 persons for cyber crimes in 2011 of which 17 were below 30 years of age. 18 of the arrests were from Ahmedabad.

Pathetic Situation in Andhra Pradesh

 Cyber crime cases, phishing and transmission of obscene content in electronic form has seen a rise in Andhra Pradesh which has also witnessed a two-fold increase in the arrest of cyber offenders in 2011. From 197 cyber crime cases reported in 2010, the number went up to 350 in 2011 and the cases were registered at three Cyber Crime police stations, including the Cyber Crime wing of CID here and different Cyber Crime units functioning across the state, a senior police officer said. 

"Close to 100 offenders were arrested during 2011 as compared to about 60 in the previous year in connection with various cyber offences," Superintendent of Police (CID-Cyber Crime) U Rama Mohan told PTI. 

Over 90 cases pertaining to the posting of objectionable content targeting women and girls on social networking sites and sending vulgar emails were registered in 2011, besides some other important cyber crime incidents. 

Cyber sleuths are in touch with the Interpol, MHA and other agencies like Computer Emergency Response Team and National Technological Research Organisation to improve monitoring and coordinating detection of cyber crimes. 

"We have sought help from the Interpol that will enable us in getting information on overseas servers (used in cyber crimes) and help in extradition of such offenders," he said. 

Recently, Interpol's help was sought for a case, in which a person from England was "harassing" a girl in Andhra Pradesh, he added.