Cyber Crime Police Stations Of India In Bad Shape

The ICT Trends of India 2009 have proved that India has failed to enact a strong and stringent Cyber Law in India. On the contrary, the Information Technology Act 2008 (IT Act 2008) has made India a “safe heaven” for cyber criminals, say cyber law experts of India.

India has a very poor cyber crime conviction rate. As per DG of Corps of Detectives (CoD) D V Guruprasad the reason behind this is the officers themselves are clueless about cyber crime. It is of no use setting up cyber crime labs when the cyber criminals cannot be convicted. As for training judiciary and prosecutors this process should have initiated a long time back when the cyber-law was passed. The cyber crime police stations/cells/labs established by NASSCOM have absolutely failed to make any difference in this regard.

According to Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of Perry4Law and the leading Techno-Legal Expert of India, “This was bound to happen as the government of India is not at all serious about tackling the menace of cyber crimes in India. Rather than strengthening the cyber law of India, it has diluted the same and made it criminal friendly through the Information Technology Act 2008”.

In the absence of a stringent cyber law of India and lack of proper techno-legal training of lawyers, judges and police officers not much can be expected from Indian legal and judicial system of India. A special emphasis must be given to the training of police officers, lawyers and judges in the field of cyber forensics.

India must engage in good capacity development initiatives rather than merely opening cyber crimes cells and achieving cyber crimes tackling capacities on papers alone. The first step must be to strengthen cyber law of India and then steps must be taken to provide adequate training to the players involved in dealing with cyber crimes in India, says Praveen Dalal.

Cyber Security Of Defense Forces In India Is Required

Cyber security in India has always received an alien treatment. There cannot be any doubt that cyber security is not only important for securing the cyberspace of a Nation, it is also crucial for securing its territorial boundaries. For instance, strategic and crucial information can be gathered from manipulating Information and Communication Technology (ICT) used by strategic units of a Nation.

Cyber security of India is very important to protect businesses, governments and general public at large. The same must be a part of the national policy of India. Unfortunately, cyber security in India is an ignored world. There are many factors that are ailing cyber security in India.

The position is even worst when it comes to wireless security in India. Wireless security has become a headache due to its misuse by terrorists in India. A weak cyber security policy in India is also resulting in increased cyber terrorism activities in India. We have to device methods to tackle cyber terrorism in India.

Another crucial aspect related to a secure and strong cyber security in India pertains to critical ICT infrastructure protection in India. Critical infrastructure is becoming increasingly dependent upon ICT these days. If we are unable to secure an ICT system we are also risking critical ICT infrastructure as well.

Recently, it has been reported that the Chinese intelligence agencies may have planted computer malware and broken into the headquarters of 33 Corps, the army formation looking after most of the north-eastern border with China. The break-in included the planting of trojan viruses which may have given Chinese operatives remote access to the computer network at the 33 Corps headquarters in Sukhna, near Siliguri, West Bengal.

The defense forces also need cyber security and cyber forensics capabilities. The digital life is an altogether different segment where traditional methods are ineffective. The cyber war and cyber terrorism threats are not only real but also very dangerous. India must upgrade its cyber security and national security capabilities as soon as possible. Repeated cyber security breaches have been reported in India from time to time but the attitude of Indian government has not yet changed. It is difficult to anticipate what would wake up the Indian government from its indefinite deep sleep and do the needful.

Judicial Reforms Are Urgently Required In India

India is in emergent need to adopt judicial reform as public trust and confidence in Indian judiciary is at its nadir. E-Courts have the potential to remove the mammoth backlog of cases existing in India but India does not have expert individuals and firms to implement this ambitious project.

Judicial reforms in India have become the pressing need of the hour. This is so because the huge backlog of cases is increasing on the one hand and the efficiency of the courts is decreasing on the other. This is happening because the numbers of judicial officers are much shorter than the required strength. If there is not an urgent, immediate and holistic judicial reforms drive in India, the judicial system of India is going to collapse.

Here lies the importance of information and communication technology (ICT) for rejuvenating the dying judicial system of India. ICT can provide the most viable solution of e-courts in India for reducing the backlog of cases.

E-Courts in India have tremendous potential to reduce the backlog of cases. However, establishment and implementation of e-courts requires techno-legal expertise that is presently missing in India. As a result e-courts projects in India always failed from time to time.

Ironically India has very few e-courts experts who can really give Indian e-courts project a shape. However, till now neither the Indian government nor the Supreme Court e-court committee has seriously though about taking help of the experts in this regard.

Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of Perry4Law and the Leading Techno-Legal Specialist of India is of the opinion that we nee pro-active role on the part of government as well as e-court project management team to successfully implement the same. He maintains that the backlog of cases would ultimate crush the legal and judicial system of India if a timely action is not taken immediately. Establishment of timely e-courts is a good option in this regard according to him.

Even on the legislative side as well India is lacking far behind. India has the sole cyber law in the form of information technology act, 2000. The same is inadequate on many counts and cannot accommodate the requisites of e-courts in India. Further issues of cyber forensics and cyber security would also impede the e-courts projects in India. The national e-governance plan must also be suitably reformulated in his regard. The government must act immediately to get the desired results.

Finally, judicial reforms are a “collective task” that cannot be achieved by any single player. The government of India must come up with an expert committee or working group in this regard so that the collective expertise of various experts can be taken at the earliest possible occasion. However, the government of India must act fast before it is too late to do anything.

AUTHOR: EDITOR LNAV

SOURCE: OPEDNEWS

Legal Enablement Of ICT Systems In India Is Urgently Required

Legal enablement of ICT systems in India requires a futuristic approach that can be achieved by acquiring techno-legal insight by the law makers. The most important requirement for achieving the same is an awareness and acceptance of the benefits of ICT by the policy and law makers in India. The “political will” is required to ensure a timely and appropriate legal enablement of ICT systems in India. There is also a requirement to reduce the wide existing corruption, lack of transparency and accountability, bureaucratic hurdles, etc in India. These vices are eliminating the chances of India becoming an ICT super power.

India needs good e-governance models, sound cyber law, effective cyber security, cyber forensics capabilities, etc to achieve the task of legal enablement of ICT systems. The industrial lobbying and vested interests have really brought a situation where India has started to fall back upon the ICT developmental path. Various International reports and surveys have shown that India’s e-governance, e-readiness, transparency, privacy rights, data protection, etc have deteriorated further.

AUTHOR: MR. PRAVEEN DALAL

SOURCE: ITVOIR