India's Surging Cybercrime: The Challenge of Low Conviction and the Need for a Specialized Justice System
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: Science and Technology (Information Technology Act, 2000, Cybersecurity, Deepfakes); Indian Polity and Governance (Police reforms, Judiciary).
Mains:
General Studies Paper 2 (Polity & Governance): Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability; Role of civil services in a democracy.
General Studies Paper 3 (Security & S&T): Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.
Key Highlights from the News
Cybercrime in India is sharply increasing. From 53,000 cases in 2021, it rose to 86,400 in 2023.
Cheating by personation using computers (Section 66D of the IT Act) is the primary crime on the rise. This includes fake job offers and deepfakes.
Main concern: Despite the increase in cybercrime, very few perpetrators are punished.
Police file a charge sheet in only one out of four registered cases (charge-sheeting rate of just 25%).
Conviction occurs in only one out of three cases that reach court (conviction rate of only 33%).
This indicates serious shortcomings in investigations, evidence collection, and legal preparedness.
The high number of cases in Karnataka might not only be due to more crimes occurring but also because the police there are more proactively recording of crimes.
Experts say that to tackle this challenge, specialised training for police, prosecutors, and judges in handling cybercrimes is essential.
COMMENTS