Vinod Bhat
‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. The States/UTs are primarily responsible for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of crimes including cyber crime through their Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs). The Central Government supplements the initiatives of the States/UTs through advisories and financial assistance under various schemes for capacity building of their LEAs.
To strengthen the mechanism to deal with cyber crimes, including cyber crimes against women and children in a comprehensive and coordinated manner, the Central Government has taken steps which, inter- alia, include the following:
- The Ministry of Home Affairs has released financial assistance to the tune of Rs. 132.93 crores under the ‘Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children (CCPWC)’ Scheme, to the States/UTs for their capacity building such as setting up of cyber forensic-cum-training laboratories, hiring of junior cyber consultants and training of LEAs’ personnel, public prosecutors and judicial officers.
- Cyber Forensic-cum-Training Laboratories have been commissioned in
33 States/UTs namely Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Odisha, Sikkim, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu, Punjab, Tripura, Puducherry, Chandigarh, J&K, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Manipur, Andman & Nicobar Islands and Delhi. In Tamil Nadu the laboratory is only partially functional. In Lakshadweep and Ladakh, the laboratory has not been established.
This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs Shri Bandi Sanjay Kumar in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
