Lok Sabha Question No. 3367 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-09
Subject: Cyber Crimes in Cyber World
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Malook Nagar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3367

TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.08.2023

## CYBER CRIMES IN CYBER WORLD

## 3367.   SHRI MALOOK NAGAR:

Will the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology be pleased to state:

(a)  whether  the  Government is  taking  steps  towards  developing  technology  to  prevent  and monitor cyber crimes in view of the increasing number of these crimes;

(b) if so, the details thereof including the increase in cyber crimes during the last three years; and

(c) the mechanism available for compensating bank account holders who have been victims of economic frauds through cyber crimes?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

(a)  and (b):The policies of the Government are aimed at ensuring an Open, Safe  &Trusted and  Accountable  Internet  for its all users,  keeping  in  view  emerging  challenges  of cybercrimes. The Information Technology Act, 2000 ('IT Act') and rules made thereunder contain provisions for safeguarding Digital Nagriks from cyber crimes. The IT Act penalises various offences relating to computer resources, including tampering with computer source documents (section 65), dishonestly or fraudulently damaging computer system (section 66), identity  theft  (section  66C),  cheating  by  impersonation  (section  66D),  cyber  terrorism (section 66F), securing unauthorised access to protected system (section 70), etc.

In addition to such general provisions regarding cyber offences, it also provides for various offences that serve to secure the digital  space for women, e.g., violation of bodily privacy (section 66E), transmitting of obscene material (section 67), and publishing or transmission of material containing sexually explicit act in electronic form including depicting children in sexually explicit act (sections 67A and 67B). These offences are in addition to various penal provisions  under  the  Indian  Penal  Code,  such  as  the  offence  of  stalking  using  electronic communication (section 354D).

As per the data maintained by National Crime Records Bureau, cases registered under the under Total Cyber Crimes, are 44735, 50035 and 52974 for the year 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively.

As per the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, prevention and investigation of cognizable offences is to be done by the police, and as per the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution,  'Police'  is  a  State  subject.  As  such,  States  are  primarily  responsible  for  the prevention,  investigation  etc.  of  such  cybercrimes  through  the  State  police  departments, including in respect of  training  their  police  personnel  for  upgrading  technical  knowhow  to investigate and solve such crimes.

The  Central  Government  supplements  the  initiatives  of  the  State  Governments  through various  advisories  and  schemes  for  the  capacity  building  of  their  police  personnel.  Steps taken by it in this direction which include the following:

- (i) The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has initiated many projects such  as  Setting  up  of  a  Collaborative  and  Comprehensive  Live  Cyber  Operations Specific Exercise Training Facility (Cyber Closet) for Indian Cyber Space,

Development  of  Cyber  Forensic  Training  cum  Investigation  Labs  in  North-Eastern States, and Cloud based centralized Cyber Forensics Lab Infrastructures and Capacity Development  on  Smart  Device  Forensics  Investigations  and  Creation  of  Resource Centre for the North Eastern Police Forces.

- (ii) The Ministry of Home Affairs has set up the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C)  to  deal  with  all  types  of  cybercrime  in  the  country  in  a  coordinated  and comprehensive manner.
- (iii) Under the Cybercrime Prevention against Women and Children (CCPWC) Scheme, financial assistance to the tune of Rs. 99.88 crore has been provided to all States and Union territories for setting up of cyber forensic cum training laboratories, hiring of junior cyber consultants and capacity building of Police personnels, public prosecutors and judicial officers. So far, cyber forensic-cum-training laboratories have been commissioned in 33 States and Union territories.
- (iv) Training  curriculum  has  been  prepared  for  law  enforcement  agency  personnel, prosecutors and judicial officers for better handling of investigation and prosecution. States and Union territories have been mandated to organise training programmes. So far,  more  than  20,300  police  personnel,  judicial  officers  and  prosecutors  have  been provided training on crime awareness, investigation, forensics, etc.
- (v) The Online Capacity Building Programme on Cyber Law, Cybercrime Investigations and  Digital  Forensics,  of  the  Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information  technology, offers a post graduate diploma of nine month duration in a phased manner to 1,000 officials  of  police,  State  Cyber  Cells,  prosecutors  and  judicial  officers  through Learning Management System.
- (vi) The  'CyTrain'  portal  has  been  developed  under  the  I4C,  for  capacity  building  of police  and  judicial  officers  through  online  course  on  critical  aspects  of  cybercrime investigation,  forensics,  prosecution  etc.  along  with  certification.  More  than  28,700 police officers from States and Union territories are registered and more than 7,800 certificates have been issued through the portal.
- (vii) The Ministry of Home Affairs has provided financial assistance under the Assistance to States for Modernization of Police Scheme to State Governments for acquisition of latest weaponry, training gadgets, advanced communication and forensic equipment, cyber policing equipment etc. The State Governments formulate State Action Plans as per their strategic priorities and requirements including combating cybercrimes.

(c):With the increased thrust on financial inclusion and customer protection and considering the  recent  surge  in  customer  grievances  relating  to  unauthorised  transactions  resulting  in debits  to  their  accounts/  cards,  the  criteria  for  determining  the  customer  liability  in  these circumstances have been reviewed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). In this direction, RBI has issued a revised Direction on 06.07.2017 to all Scheduled Commercial Banks including Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and Small Finance Banks and Payments Banks with regard to the  strengthening  of  systems  and  procedures,  reporting  of  unauthorised  transactions  by customers  to  banks  andzero  liability/  limited  liability  of  customer  along  with  prescribed reversal  timeline,  etc.  On  being  notified  by  the  customer,  the  bank  shall  credit  (shadow reversal)  the  amount  involved  in  the  unauthorised  electronic  transaction  to  the  customer's account within 10 working days from the date of such notification by the customer (without waiting  for  settlement  of  insurance  claim,  if  any).  The  bank  has  to  resolve  customer's complaint within 90 days from the date of receipt of customer's notification after establishing the customer's liability. This Direction is available in RBI's website -https://www.rbi.org.in/commonman/English/Scripts/Notification.aspx?Id=2336.

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