Criminal Investigation Department gears up to tackle cyber crimes in Assam

* State has highest cases in Northeast

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Assam Police has geared up to tackle the rising graph of cyber crimes across the State. In this regard, already a state-of-the-art laboratory has been set up in the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) headquarters of Assam Police, at Ulubari here. This laboratory has been established under the 'Cyber crime prevention against women and children' scheme of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

CID sources informed The Sentinel that this cyber forensic-cum-training lab will become operational soon. It has been set up at an estimated cost of approximately Rs 3.94 crore. Altogether 25 cyber crime investigation experts will be able to simultaneously work in an equal number of work stations here. This facility will provide a boost to the already operational three cyber forensic laboratories at the CID HQs, Jorhat and Silchar.

The significance of the new facility can be gauged from the fact that Assam ranks third in the national cybercrime rating. Its cybercrime rate is 6.5 per one lakh population. This rate is much above the national cybercrime rate of 3.3 per one lakh population. According to this latest NCRB (National Crime Record Bureau) data-2019, the cybercrime rate of Assam comes after only two other States – Karnataka with a cybercrime rate of 18.2 per one lakh population and Telangana with a cybercrime rate of 7.2 per one lakh population. In 2019, a total of 2,231 cases were registered in Assam. In 2018, the State reported 2,022 cases while in 2017, a total of 1,120 such cases had been registered in the State. [Also: Read Other Latest Assam news]

Cybercrime is basically a case of identity theft, i.e., fraudulent practice of using another person's name and personal information in order to obtain credit, loans, etc.

Significantly, the cybercrime rate is quite negligible in the other States of Northeast where Assam tops the list. While Meghalaya has a cybercrime rate of 2.8 per one lakh population, Mizoram has a cybercrime rate of 0.7 per one lakh population, both Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura have a cybercrime rate of 0.5, Sikkim has a cybercrime rate of 0.3 and both Manipur and Nagaland have a cybercrime rate of 0.1. However, barring Assam and Meghalaya the percentage share of all the other six States in the Northeast is zero. The cybercrime percentage State share of Meghalaya is 0.2.

A highly placed Assam Police official said, "The Assam Police has asked netizens to behave responsibly as it is the key to ensure their safety in cyber space. Online fraud in Assam amounts to 60.4% of the total cases of cyber offences, followed by other crimes such as identity thefts and online sexual exploitation."