Cyber Crime Cell : A need of the hour in Assam

Dr Baharul Islam, LLM ( IT & Telecom Law, UK ), PhD

Chairman, State Knowledge Commission, Mizoram

& CEO, South Asia Development Gateway

OUTLINE

• Some Statistics • Provisions of the Info. Tech Act 2000• Examples from other States• Proposed set up for the State of Assam• Rationale• Conclusion

Cases Registered under IT Act : NCRB

Persons Arrested under IT Act: NCRB

Cases Registered under IPC : NCRB

Persons Arrested under IPC : NCRB

Source: Internet Crime Complaint Center, USA

Source: Internet Crime Complaint Center, USA

Source: Internet Crime Complaint Center, USA

Provisions of the Info. Tech Act 2000• S. 78: a police officer not below the rank of

DSP shall investigate• S. 80 (1) ...or any other officer of the Central

Government or a State Govt. authorized by the Central Govt…[S. 80(2)]...an officer other than a police officer shall...send the person arrested before a magistrate having jurisdiction or before the officer-in-charge of a police station.

• S. 90(1)…The State Government may… make rules to carry out the provisions of this Act.

Examples from other States

• Mumbai Police: Cyber Crime Investigation Cell (Started in Dec, 2000)

• Headed by a Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime),

• Addl. Commissioner of Police (Crime) • Dy. Commissioner of Police (Preventive)• Addl. Commissioner of Police (Cyber Cell),

C.I.D

CYBER CRIME POLICE STATION BANGALORE

• Started in Oct ‘99 as Cell & From Sept ‘01 – CCPS• Jurisdiction: Whole of the State of Karnataka in

respect of offences committed under I T Act 2000)• Offences relating to Intellectual Property Rights.• Headed by a DSP; • Four Police Inspectors & other supporting staff

CCPS BANGALORE… Contd

• Supervised by Superintendent of Police (COD), IGP (Economic Offences), DIG (Economic Offences), under the overall supervision and guidance of DGP.

• One legal adviser of the rank of Deputy Director of Prosecution assists the Police Officers on legal issues.

• Depending upon legal and technical requirement, assistance from outside experts is also taken.

AP Cyber Crime Police StationHyderabad

• Supported by AP Forensic Science Laboratory, country's first state-level computer crime laboratory

• Addl. S.P. heads the cyber crime police station as station house officer.

• Assisted by DSP, Sub-inspector and others

• Consultant is engaged to give advisory support

Cyber Crime Cell Ahmedabad

• Started as Cyber Crime Cell. Now being upgraded to CC PS (Mar 2008)

• Under Commissioner of Police. • Headed by a DSP• Senior police officers said two

inspectors, four sub-inspectors, eight assistant sub-inspectors and 14 constables.

• Budget: Rs 4.77 crore

Others Places• Chennai's Cyber Crime Cell headed by

Assistant Commissioner of Police • Kerala Resource Centre for Cyber Forensics –

joint initiative by Centre For Development Of Advanced Computing, Govt of India, Kerala State IT Mission.

• Pune Police Cyber Crime Investigation Lab – joint venture with NASSCOM. www.indiacyberlab.in

• Mumbai, Bangalore and Thane also have NASSCOM assisted Cyber labs.

Proposal for Assam • Senior Level Supervisory Body – Headed by the

DGP• Direct supervision of an IGP• Headed by a DSP with necessary supporting

staff• Legal advisor and a Panel of Experts.• Partnerships with stakeholders, industry, and

institutes .• May act as the base center for entire Northeast

Proposed Specialized Cells/Units

• To combat computer-related crimes, following specialized Cells/Units should be created:

i) Cyber Crimes Research and Development

Unit (CCRDU);(ii) Cyber Crime Investigation Cell (CCIC);(iii) Cyber Forensics Laboratory; and(iv) Network Monitoring Centre.

Rationale• A Cyber Crime Cell is now an essential not only

cyber crimes but also investigate conventional crimes like terrorism, drug and human trafficking.

• Identification of Personnel Training & Upgrading • Inadequate infrastructure for examination and

analysis of digital evidence • Cyber Forensic Cell: specialized unit to seize,

collect and analyze digital evidence• Legal Back up Team: to facilitate awareness,

study and advanced research in cyber law and information security, to provide educational and training programs in cyber law, information security and cyber crime investigation on a regular basis.

Rationale …contd.

• Cyber crime has made a significant impact on the criminal justice system prevalent throughout the world.

• Almost all offences in the present time involve the use of computers and other electronic media at some stage

• Criminals, realizing the effectiveness of computers and the Internet to successfully perpetrate conventional crimes, are resorting to using them as tools for committing such crimes.

Conclusion

• The Invisible criminals are more dangerous than the visible ones

• They use technology as weapon - we must use the same to nab them

Thank You !!Email:

drbahar@gmail.comislamb@un.org