Cyber crimes on steep rise
By IANSFriday, January 21, 2011
NEW DELHI - With the ever increasing population of netizens in the country, the number of cyber-crimes in the country is also rising sharply, says data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for 2009.
Under the Information Technology Act, a total of 420 cases such as hacking computer systems or forging digital signatures were reported in 2009, while the figure was 142 in 2006.
Predictably, 97 of the 420 cases were reported from Karnataka, the state which has the IT hub of the country as its capital.
Of the 420 cases, hacking ruled the roost with 233 cases, closely followed by 139 offences relating to pornography. The 2006 figures for both offences were 74 and 88, respectively.
A total of 107 hackers were arrested in 2009 as against 41 in 2006. Similarly, 141 people were booked for pornography-related violations in 2009, whereas the figure was 125 in 2006. The total arrests in cyber crimes have also gone up from 154 in 2006 to 288 in 2009.
Cities like Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Ludhiana, Pune, among others, reported high incidence of cyber crime cases under the IT act with a total of 145 of the 178 cases - accounting for more than three-fourths of the total cases.
Meanwhile, a total of 276 cases were registered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) during 2009 as compared to 176 such cases during 2008, an increase of 56.8 percent. Maharashtra reported the maximum cases at 108 followed by Chhattisgarh with 46 cases.
Majority of the crimes of total 276 cases fell under two categories — forgery and criminal breach of trust or fraud.
More than 47 percent of the offenders involved in forgery cases in 2009 were in the age group of 18 to 30. Nearly 50 percent of the arrested under cyber fraud offences were in the age group 30 to 45.
Under the IPC, Nasik reported the highest incidents with 68 cases followed by Mumbai with 35 cases. A total of 263 people were arrested in the country for cyber crimes under IPC during 2009.
