Lok Sabha Question No. 1794 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-07-27
Subject: Cyber Stalking
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: JANARDAN MISHRA, BAHADUR SINGH KOLI, SHIVKUMAR CHANABASAPPA UDASI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  1794

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 27.07.2016

## CYBER  STALKING

## 1794        SHRI JANARDAN  MISHRA: SHRI BAHADUR SINGH  KOLI: SHRI SHIVKUMAR  UDASI:

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

- (a) whether the number of cases for obscene publication and transmission has risen and the Government has failed in getting the requisite cyber crime convictions;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the cases reported during the last three years and the current year;
- (c) whether  cyber  stalking  and  online  harassment  of  women  and  children  have  not  been given the kind of priority it requires and if so, the reasons therefor and the details of cases of cyber stalking/ harassment reported during the last three years and the current year;
- (d) whether the Government has set up any committee/mechanism to provide legal help and to check such crimes; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof and the action taken to sensitize students and others against cyber stalking/harassment?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI P.P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) and (b):   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  Crime  and  for prosecuting  the  criminals  through  Law  Enforcement  machinery  within  their  jurisdictions. National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) collects and maintains statistical data of police recorded cognizable crimes from 35 States /Union Territories. As per the data maintained by NCRB, A total of 589 cases, 1,203 cases & 758 cases were registered under publication/ transmission of obscene/ sexual explicit act, etc. in electronic form [section 67 of Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000] during 2012, 2013 & 2014 respectively, showing a mixed trend. A total of 5 persons have  been  convicted  under  section  67  during  2014.  Similar  data  for  the  year  2015  is  under compilation.

(c) to (e): Union Government attaches  highest  importance  to  the  matter  of  prevention and  control  of  crime  against  women  and  children.    Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  has  issued  an Advisory  on  Preventing  &  combating  Cyber  Crime  against  Women  and  Children  dated  4 th January, 2012, wherein it was advised to States / Union Territories to specifically combat the crimes in forms of cyber stalking, cyber bullying, child pornography and exposure to sexually explicit  material  etc.  No  separate  data  is  maintained  related  to  cases  of  cyber  stalking/ harassment by NCRB.

Mechanism exists to check such crime in form of following:

- i. The IT Act, 2000 together with the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) provides legal framework for dealing with online obscene material including child sexual abuse. Sections 67, 67A and 67B of the Information Technology Act provide stringent punishment and fine for publishing or transmission of obscene material in electronic form.
- ii. Further, Under sub-Section (2) of Section 79 of Information Technology Act 2000, the intermediaries including Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have a statutory obligation to observe due diligence and guidelines prescribed by the Government.  The details of the due diligence to be observed by the intermediaries have been prescribed under the Information  Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules, 2011 enacted under Section 79 and notified on 13.04.2011.  As per sub-Rule 3 (2) of the Rules as above, the intermediaries are required to take necessary action to  inform the users not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, update or share any information which is objectionable in any way (including sexually explicit material).
- iii. As  per  the  ministry  of  home  affairs  advisory,  states  have  setup  cyber  crime  cells  to investigate  cyber  crimes  and  initiated  action  to  strengthen  the  investigation  resources  in  cyber crime cells.
- iv. Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), in response to Ministry of Women & Child Development (MWCD) and in consultation with MWCD, Ministry of Home Affairs  (MHA),  National  Commission  for  Women  (NCW),  Matrimonial  Website  service providers as well as industry associations, has developed a specific Advisory under Information Technology Act, 2000 for  Online Matrimonial Websites service providers for the benefit of registered  users  who  are  either  creating  the  profile  or  whose  profile  is  being  uploaded  for matrimonial alliance on these sites. The copy of the advisory issued on 6th June 2016 is available on DeitY website at http://deity.gov.in and MWCD website at http://wcd.nic.in

To enable  responsible  user  behaviour  and  to  promote  cyber  security  and  safety  awareness,  the Government  has  been  implementing  a  programme  on  Information  Security  Education  and Awareness (ISEA). One of the objective  of  the  Project  is  to  spread  awareness  on  Information Security  amongst  various  user  groups  including  schools  children.  Under  ISEA  Project  Phase  I (2005-2014), approx. 596 workshops have been conducted which covered around 60000 school children  /  college  students.  During  these  workshops,  approx.  50000  awareness  kits  containing awareness  material/hand  books  were  distributed.  50  posters  on various topics related to information security awareness were designed and around 2 lakh posters were posted at different user  locations  including  Schools.  Under  ISEA  Project  Phase  II  also,  Mass  Awareness  is  being targeted towards different user groups including School children. More than 200 workshops have been conducted across the country covering 6057 students including school children.

*******