Question : Cyber Crime Cases Registered

Will the Minister of Electronics & Information Technology be pleased to state:-
(a) the details of the number of cases of Cyber Crimes registered during the last three years and the current year across the country, State/UT-wise;
(b) whether these numbers are increasing every year and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor and the action taken/being taken by the Government in this regard;
(c) whether the Government is planning to strengthen the powers of Telecom Regulator and Telecom Commission in this regard and if so, the details thereof and the time by which it is likely to be done;
(d) whether there are large number of fake accounts on various e-mail and social networking sites which are being used for committing cyber fraud/crime and if so, the details thereof along with the action taken by the Government against the concerned websites and individuals; and
(e) the action formulated by the Government to safeguard the interest of the users of Digital India against leakage of sensitive data through cyber attacks?

(a) and (b): As per the data maintained by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 9622, 11592 and 12,317 cyber crime cases were registered during the years 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively. This includes cases registered under the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 and related sections of Indian Penal Code and Special & Local Laws involving computer as medium/ target. NCRB is yet to publish cyber crime data for the year 2017. Statewise cybercrime details are at Annexure.

(c): There is no such proposal with the Ministry at present.

(d) and (e): Cyber space is a complex environment of people, software, hardware and services on the Internet. With a borderless cyberspace coupled with the possibility of instant communication and anonymity, the potential for committing cyber crime through the use of social media is higher than ever. Instances of using the social networking websites by terror groups has come to the notice of the Government from time to time. With the proliferation of Information Technology and related services there is a rise in instances of cyber crimes in the country like elsewhere in the world. The Police and Public Order are State subjects under the Constitution and as such the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations are primarily responsible for prevention, detection, registration and investigation of crimes including cyber frauds/crime and for prosecuting the criminals through Law Enforcement machinery within their jurisdictions. The Social Networking Sites are also providing for reporting of such duplicate accounts on their sites.

Further, National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) collects and maintains statistical data of police recorded cognizable crimes from 36 States /Union Territories. As per the data maintained by NCRB, A total of 428 cases, 1,083 cases & 1,597 cases were registered under Punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource [section 66D of Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000] during 2014, 2015 & 2016 respectively, showing a mixed trend. Data for the year 2017 is under compilation.
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