Himachal sees spurt in cyber crimes against women

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 14

Cyber crimes against women are on the rise in the state. On an average, women have been targeted in over 70 per cent such cases registered in the state from 2015-19.

The maximum cases were related to the creation of fake profile and IDs, virtual stalking, transmitting sexually explicit material, blackmailing by morphing photographs, fake chatting and calling on WhatsApp, besides financial frauds, said Additional SP, cyber crime, Narvir Singh Rathore.

Talking to The Tribune, he said a majority of the victims had been harassed on social networking sites such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Twitter.

Chatting and befriending women, winning their confidence, getting intimate and blackmailing was the modus operendi being adopted by miscreants, but no organised gang was working in this area. In most cases, individuals were involved, he said.

In 2018, 54 out of 65 cases (83 per cent) were lodged by women. In 2019, 54 out of 73 (74 per cent) cyber complaints pertained to women. At least 22 out of 43 cases (51 per cent) of cyber crime against women have been registered in the first seven months of 2020. The maximum cases were registered in Kangra, followed by Shimla and Solan.

The state ranks first in crimes related to publishing/transmitting of sexually explicit material, second in cyber crimes against women and third in blackmailing/ defamation/morphing/fake profile cases as per the crime rate ranking of states by the National Crime Record Bureau-2018.

Another cause for concern is that the number of cyber crimes against women was 0.9 per lakh population against the national average of 0.2 per lakh

“Crime against women is a multi-dimensial problem. We have written to the Information Technology Department to create awareness in this regard,” said DGP Sanjay Kundu.

Since 80 per cent population is using smartphones which imply that they have round-the-clock access to Internet, the police have cautioned residents, especially women, to be vigilant and cautious and refrain from responding to unknown persons.