CHANDIGARH: Punjab Police will have to take a lesson or two in handling virtual crime sooner than it thinks it should. The IT-propelled e-revolution in Punjab has brought along with it cyber criminals with specializations ranging from online frauds to hacking.
Data provided by Punjab Police makes it amply clear that cyber-thugs are here to stay and their crimes, in fact, are on the rise in Punjab.
According to data, Punjab Police has registered over 150 cases of cyber crime under the IT Act, 2000 and various sections of IPC in the last eight years. And most of these cases were reported to the police in the last two years. While a total 16 cases of online fraud were registered, 45 other cases of electronic cheating have come to light since 2000.
Cases of providing false electronic evidence, obtaining fake digital signatures, tampering with computer files and even hacking have been registered by Punjab Police.
A total of 42 cases of producing fake currency and stamps using electronic means also came to light.
Along with online frauds, what really is bothering Punjab Police is the problem of obscene MMSes.
Punjab police records show that the market of home-produced obscene MMSes is rapidly rising in the state even though the number of such cases registered by police is not very high as they mostly go unreported.
The police department has registered 21 cases of generating and transmitting vulgar MMSes since 2000 and in 2006, 10 such cases were reported.
Senior police officers accepted that the incidence of cyber crime could be more than what is reported.
Officers added that virtual crime was on the rise and before it became a major headache, necessary steps should be taken by the department.
Even though Punjab Police has plans of launching a cyber cell to deal with virtual crime, till now it has existed only on paper.
The department also plans to take help from nerds in tracking down cyber-criminals besides training its own cops in the near future.
Source: The Times of India News Service