Identify Cyber Hotspots, Maintain Profile of Cyber Crimes: Parliamentary Panel

A parliamentary panel has recommended that the Union Home Ministry may encourage the state governments to identify cyber hotspots in their state and maintain a data profile on the cyber crimes being committed in those hotspots.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs headed by BJP MP Brijlal noted that it believed that despite the boom in Internet connectivity in the country, there might be a sizeable population in various states and Union Territories which may have very limited access to it due to various reasons.

"The committee recommends that the ministry may encourage state governments to identify cyber hotspots in their state and maintain data profile on the cyber crimes being committed in those hotspots and the measures taken to contain those crimes," the panel said in its report submitted to Parliament on Friday.

This data, the panel said, may be collected by the 'Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C)' and shared with other states for framing of policies by them to tackle such types of cyber crimes.

The committee, therefore, recommended that the police force may adopt various strategies such as publicising its achievements in the meetings of the community, village, and district-level committees at regular intervals for increasing the police-people interaction, organising awareness weeks and Jan Sabhas, among others.  The focus should be on a nationwide capacity-building campaign, with an emphasis on developing and inculcating high professional and ethical standards as well as attitudinal and social skills in the personnel, it noted.

​The committee noted that states and Union Territories have been requested to install IP cameras at strategic locations in all police stations and to conduct a periodic audit of all the installed CCTVs.

The committee further notes that the Ministry of Law and Justice has been approached to advise states and Union Territories for installing CCTVs at district courts. The panel said that it would like to be apprised of the status of action taken by the states and Union Territories in this matter.