Bhubaneswar: Odisha witnessed more than two-fold rise in registration of cybercrime cases in 2017. This was revealed in just published National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report for the year 2017 recently. The report also indicated the delay in providing justice to victims due to snail-paced investigation and extremely poor conviction rate.
As per the report, there were around 317 cybercrime cases registered in the state in 2016. The number rose to 824 – registering around 160 per cent rise in 2017. Odisha ranks among the top 10 states with maximum number of cybercrime cases as well as crime rate in the country in 2017.
Out of the total registration of cases, 333 are related to fraud through ATMs (168) and through online banking (116), which are the most preferred ways to dupe the victims of fraud. As many as 233 cases of cyber cheating cases were also recorded in the state during 2017. Similarly, there were 13 cases reported in the state under newly added head of posting of fake news on social media platform in 2017. Around 24 cases were recorded for publishing and transmitting sexually explicit materials on social media, 20 cases of data theft and six cases of cyber stalking in 2017.
On the other hand, fraudsters had committed most of the cybercrime cases while political rivalry was the main motive behind six cybercrime cases in the state in 2017.
The report informs that one cybercrime case under terrorist activities was also registered in state in the same year. However, no OTP fraud case recorded in 2017 which had been a major cause of concern in the last two years.
Meanwhile, the state police submitted charge-sheets in only 97 cases out of the total of 824 cybercrimes reported in 2017. Police also failed to collect any evidence despite admitting the allegations true in as many as 47 cases in 2017.
The report revealed that out of the total cases(pending cases of previous year and the current year), trial has been completed in only five cases – one conviction and four acquittals in 2017.
The NCRB data is an indication towards the efficiency of the investigating officials of state police in dealing with cybercrimes so far as the staggering number of cybercrime cases in the state in the recent years is concerned.
The police have also earlier admitted to the fact that there is lack of adequate technical expertise with the police officers in the field which is an impediment to resolve the huge number of cybercrime cases. The state police has been organising special training programmes to train cops to enhance their technical skills.
