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CHAPTER-2
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INCREASING INCIDENTS OF
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CYBERCRIMES IN INDIA
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Chapter-2 Increasing Incidents of Cybercrimes in India

CHAPTER-2
INCREASING INCIDENTS OF CYBERCRIMES IN INDIA
Introduction
The Indian cyber space has observed major rise in the cyber crimes in recent times.
For hosting command and controlling servers in the data centers the cyber space of
India is being used. Many times, it has been reported that attempts have been made to
attack telecom infrastructure mainly, the routers and Domain Name System (DNS).
Not only the private and public sector websites have faced the cyber crime attacks but
many government websites are also been hacked in order to steal the vulnerable

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information about the country. According to Business Insider India Bureau 15,700,

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websites were hacked in the year 2018.1

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In this chapter, an attempt has been made to briefly discuss cyber security scenario in

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India vis a vis various criminal activities. Crime data from various sources has also
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been collected and analysed with special reference to cyber criminality against
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women in India.
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2.1 Types of cyber crimes: Impact and Methodology

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The Information Technology Act, 2000 has defined cyber crimes into contraventions
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and offences. The first kind of contraventions are defined under chapter IX of the Act
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and are civil in nature where as the second type of offences are defined under chapter
d
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XI which are criminal in nature. Following is the summary of offences defined under
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IT Act, 2000 and its preventions:

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1
Bi India Bureau, Dec 13, 2018, 04.12 PM, available at: https://www.businessinsider.in (visited on
Jan. 10,2019)

34 | P a g e
 Chapter-2 Increasing Incidents of Cybercrimes in India

Legal control preventions as

Sl. Mechanism through per relevant sections of Technical preventions and
Type of cyber crime Definition

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No. which it is carried out ITAct,2000 and Amendments other measures
therof

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Sec.43 (Penalty by way of Do not disclose personal

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By communicating on compensation to the person so information on internet to

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Craftily following a
e-mails, instant affected) unknown person.

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1 Cyber Stalking person or tracking his
messaging, online Sec.66 (impreson-ment upto 3 Immediately contact the

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online history
discussions. years or fine upto 5 lakh rupees concerned service provider

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or with both. about the incident.

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Accessing the source Ss 43, 65, 66 Data can be prevented from
Intellectual Property Tempering with the

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2 code and manipulating (Imprisonment upto 3 years or leakage through strong
Crime source code etc.

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or stealing it etc. fine upto 2 lakh rupees or both) authentication.

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Debiting small

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amount from bank
Salami Attack Through unauthorized Data access can be prevented

y,
account without any
( data theft or access to software Ss. 43, 66 (compensation and by strong authentication

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3 notice to the account
banking account source code and imprisonment upto 3 years) method and secure IT

br
holder in order to
manipulation) Li databases infrastructure.
convert it into a big
d
amount
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By use of automated
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tool innumerable
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Over flow of mail box Ss. 43, 66 (compensation and Can be prevented by anti spam
4 E-Mail Bombing number of mails are
by number of E-mails imprisonment upto 3 years) filters.
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sent to the targeted

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account
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Fraudulent attempt in Instantaneous note of phishing

Ss. 43,66,66c
order to obtain Using technology to sites.
5 Phishing imprisonmentupto 3 years and
password or credit commit identity theft Making user aware about the
fine upto 1 lakh rupees)
card number phishing attacks.

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 Chapter-2 Increasing Incidents of Cybercrimes in India

Use of strong authentication

method for online banking.

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Sharing online

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Ss. 43,43A, 72A (compensation Protecting and safeguarding the
Stealing private personal information,

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6 Personal data theft upto 5 lakh rupees and online data and personal
information email account and

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imprisonment upto 3 years) computer system
computer system

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Protecting personal

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By obtaining
information, safeguarding

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Deliberate use of unauthorized access to

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Sec.43 (compensation and computer systems.
someone else‟s the personal

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7 Identity theft imprisonment upto 3 years with Providing awareness on
identity in order to information or by

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fine) preventing identity theft and
obtain financial gain employing phishing

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adoption of safe internet
techniques

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practices.

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It is a type of

y,
deception which is
Not to disclose sensitive

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used to extract
Ss. 43,66 (compensation and information to unknown

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vulnerable By using manipulative
8 Spoofing Li imprisonment upto 3 years with person. Implementing anti
information such as tools and techniques
fine) spoofing measures to identify
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bank account
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false source.
information, personal
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information etc.
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Unauthorized access to Ss. 43, 43A, 65, 66 and 72 Protecting computer system
Stealing computer
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9 Data theft victim‟s computer (compensation and punishment and creating user awareness
based information
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system upto 3 years with fine) about data leakage preventions.

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Attack of viruses, Installing and Ss. 43, 66 (compensation and

Different hacking Protecting computer system by
10 worms, Trojan propagating malicious imprisonment upto 3 years with
methods installing antivirus.
horses etc. software fine)
11 Publishing obscene Transmitting or Publishing or Sec.67 (imprisonment upto 3 Removing the obscene

36 | P a g e
 Chapter-2 Increasing Incidents of Cybercrimes in India

material publishing obscene transmitting the years and fine upto 5 lakh rupees materials from internet.
material in electronic obscene content on on first conviction and on
form internet subsequent conviction upto 5

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years and fine upto 10 lakh

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rupees)

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Publishing in the

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Sec.67A (imprisonment upto 5
Publishing or electronic form any Blocking and removing

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years and fine upto 1 lakh rupees
transmitting material material which pornographic material

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12 Pornography on first conviction and on second
containing sexually contains sexually published on websites, online

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conviction upto 7 years and fine

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explicit act, etc. explicit act or conduct media etc.
upto 10 lakh rupees)

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over internet

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Sec. 67B (imprisonment upto 5
Publishing sexually

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Publishing obscene years and fine upto 1 lakh rupees Taking down of pornographic
explicit material

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13 Child pornography material involving on first conviction and on second material published on websites,
depicting children in

A
children on internet conviction upto 7 years and fine online media etc.
electronic form

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upto 10 lakh rupees)

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Intentionally

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capturing and Circulating personal/ Removing such content
Li Sec.66E (imprisonment upto 3
Voyeurism and publishing the private images or available on internet and
14 years and fine not exceeding 2
d
violation of privacy pictures or videos of a videos on mobile and transmitted through mobile
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lakh rupees)
private act on internet internet phones.
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and mobiles.
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Posting or sending Communication of Removing such offensive

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Offensive/ hate hate massages hate or offensive Sec. 66A 2( imprisonment for 3 massages from social media.
15
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massages through massages through e- years and fine) Making users aware of safe
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communication mails, social internet practices.

2
This section was struck down as unconstitutional in the case Shreya Single v. union of India decided on 24th March, 2015 as violative of Art.19(1)(a) related to freedom
of speech and expression. Now comments on social networking sites will not be offensive unless they come under the provisions of the Indian penal code, 1860 (45 of
1860).

37 | P a g e
 Chapter-2 Increasing Incidents of Cybercrimes in India

services, etc. networking site,

whatsApp, websites,
etc.

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Securing the computer system

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Protection of Hacking the computer and related infrastructure,

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Hacking of protected Sec. 70 (imprisonment for 10
16 Information systems by using creating user awareness and

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systems years with fine)
Infrastructure various methods training of system

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administrators

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Producing traffic from

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Over flowing of Secs. 43, 66, compensation and Implementing DOS, DDOS

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millions of computer
17 Denial of service computer with denial imprisonment upto three tears preventing systems

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using automated tools
of service attacks and fine

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and techniques

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Breaking and replacing
Attack of changing

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the hosted website Secs. 43, 66 (compensation and Protecting website and IT
the visual appearance

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18 Web defacement with their own imprisonment upto 3 years and infrastructure used for hosting
of website or web

y,
specially religious and fine) and maintaining webpage
page

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government sites

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38 | P a g e
Chapter-2 Increasing Incidents of Cybercrimes in India

The above table suggests that I.T. Act has been successful in identifying various
offences concerning cyber criminality and creating a deterrent by means of evolving
compensatory and remedial measures. However, despite these measures, the next
table shows that these crimes are still affecting the Indian society to a great extent.

2.2 Cyber Criminality against Women in India

The harassment of women online is a burning issue of present day. It has now become
a very serious issue affecting the modesty, security and privacy of net users especially
women. It has become a global problem and India is no exception. The women in
India have become target of cybercrime or online harassment more because the

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internet facilities provided here are better than the laws enforced. The effect of

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cybercrime on women is more mental than physical. The focus of the law and its

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enforcement agencies ensuring women‟s security is more on physical harm rather

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than mental harm. Due to social embarrassment and societal pressure Indian women
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are unable to register cyber crimes frequently and that‟s why every second Indian
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women are being subjected to cyber crime such as E-mail harassment, trolling, cyber-
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stalking, body shaming, revenge porn, defamation, morphing, e-mail spoofing and
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other forms of indecent representation in cyber space.

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2.3 List of Cyber-crimes Committed against Women

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There are various kind of crimes which are being committed against the society and
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individuals but following are the crimes in which women are targeted either as an
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object of revenge or of pleasure:

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1. Trolling.
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2. Harassment via e-mails.

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3. Cyber-stalking.
4. Cyber pornography.
5. Defamation.
6. Morphing.
7. Email spoofing.

A brief discussion on above mentioned crimes is as under:

1. Trolling: It is also known as cyber bullying or internet bullying. It is defined
as an act of creating disagreement on the net by starting a heated argument
which upset the people by publishing an inflammatory message on social

39 | P a g e
Chapter-2 Increasing Incidents of Cybercrimes in India

media through online platform3. It is an act of responding to online comments

in an intentionally disruptive manner.4 In other words we can say that trolling
in an online abuse. Troll is a person who spreads hate and conflicts on
internet. Trolls start quarreling to upset the victim by publishing provocative
or irrelevant messages on social networking sites such as a forum, newsgroup,
chat room, or blog with the intention to provoke victims into an emotional,
upsetting response5. Trolls are professional abusers who create an atmosphere
of cold war in the cyber space by making and using fake ids on social media
and are not even traced easily.6

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The provisions of Information Technology Act, 2000 do not deal with the incidents of

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trolling directly. Section 66A of The IT Act, 2000 deals with the punishment for

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sending offensive messages through communication service, etc. According to this

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section whoever sends any offensive or annoying massage through computer resource

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or communication device will be sentenced for a period that may extend to three years
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and with fine. It is a bailable and cognizable offence. This section of the IT Act,
h
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2000was inserted to curtail the incidents of stalking, phishing and spamming. The
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terms “annoyance and inconvenience” used in the section do not have a clear meaning
A

in criminal law. If a person i.e. a troll writes something, which does not offend or hurt
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the sentiments of another person or the police officer feels that it does not offend or
br
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hurt, then this section will not apply.

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However, Section 354A sub-clause (iv) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as inserted by
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2013 Amendment Act states that if any man makes a “Sexually colored remark” will
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be punished for the offence of sexual harassment. He shall be punished for the
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sentence, which will be of either description for a term that may extend to one year, or
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with fine or with both.7This offence under IPC is cognizable but bailable. In the light
of above two sections, trolling has become a grievous offence. If trolling is of such a
nature that amounts to abetment of the offence of suicide of the person so affected,

3
James Hanson, trolls and their impact on social media, available at:
https://unlcms.unl.edu/engineering/james-hanson/trolls-and-their-impact-social-media( visited on
January 21,2019).
4
https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/trolling ( visited on January 21, 2019).
5
Dhruti M. Kapadia, Cyber Crimes Against Women And Laws In India, available at:
https://www.livelaw.in ( visited on 15 January, 2019).
6
Ibid.
7
Prashant mali, “Troll Trolling and Law in India” available at : http://www.academia.edu(visited at
January 18, 2019)

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Chapter-2 Increasing Incidents of Cybercrimes in India

then the troll will be charged for the offence mentioned under Section 306 of the
Indian Penal code(IPC). According to this section if anyone commits suicide, then
whoever abets or encourages the commission of such suicide, will be punished with
sentence of either description for a term, which may extend to ten years and will be
liable to fine also. Such person is guilty of cognizable and non-bailable offence.

In Tamiz v. Google Inc.8 a claim was brought against Google Inc and Google UK Ltd.
In this case 8 comments were posted on the blog named „London Muslim‟ blog (here
in after called “The Blog”). The Blog was hosted on Blogger.com which was operated
by Google Inc. The plaintiff had complained to Google regarding the comments. The

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Google had contacted the author of the Blog after some delay who then voluntarily

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removed it. The claim was in relation to the comments, which were published on “The

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Blog” during the period after Google Inc. had notified the comments but before their

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removal. The Appellate Court held that, the Google is an online platform, which is

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vicariously liable for publishing a defamatory material, as a “publisher” if it does not
us
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act immediately upon such notification or complaint.Women are also becoming
h
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victims of trolling.
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2. Harassment via e-mails: E-mail harassment is not at all a new concept. It is

A
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somewhat like harassment by letters. Online or e-mail harassment can be of

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different kinds such as blackmailing, trolling, threatening, bullying etc. Such

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type of harassment can be fatal when the criminals send messages through
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fake ids9.
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Undoubtedly, e-mail is the most used electronic tool of present day. Majority of
la
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people send and receive hundreds of emails every day. The provisions of criminal law
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and some sections of IT Act deal with the protection from such type of computer
related crime.

ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) has solved a case of harassment through email
recently. In this case, Mr. X (name changed) was getting threats calls. He was
harassed through internet platform via his e-mail account. He was running his
business through email. He totally depended upon his e-mail account to carry on his

8
[2013] EWCA Civ 68
9
Debarati Halded, “cyber crime against women in India”, available at:
http://www.cyberlawtimes.com/articles/103.html ( visited on January 17, 2019)

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Chapter-2 Increasing Incidents of Cybercrimes in India

business. He took orders and sent invoice through e-mail. Such threatening e-mails
interrupted his capacity to smoothly carry on his business and finally he took help
from ICS which was a private investigating agency to initiate an investigation
proceeding for email harassment to find out the culprit who was sending such mails,
in order to stop future harassment from the sender.10

3. Cyberstalking: The offence of cyber stalking is an unwanted surveillance of

a person by another person or group of persons 11 .Cyber stalking is the
burning issue of 21st century and women are on its hit list. It is a mode to use
the Internet to stalk someone for online harassment. A cyber stalker does not

ity
engage himself directly to threat or abuse of the victim. Such criminals follow

rs
the victim‟s online activity in order to extract information and threat the

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victim in various forms of verbal intimidation. The secrecy of online

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communication reduces the chance of recognition and makes cyber stalking

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different from physical stalking.12The aim behind the stalking in cyber world
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is divided into four reasons, such as, sexual harassment, love obsession,
h

revenge and hate and also for ego and power trips.13
ar
lig
A

The provisions of IT Act, 2000 as amended in 2008 do not deal with the offence of
y,

stalking directly. Some of the provisions of said Act which are used to deal with the
ar
br

offence of cyber stalking are as follows:

Li
d

 Section 72: According to this section any person who, in pursuant of any of
za
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the powers conferred under this Act, rules or regulations made there under,
na

has secured access to any electronic record, book, register, correspondence,

la
au

information, document or other material without the consent of the person

M

concerned discloses such electronic record, book, register, correspondence,

information, document or other material to any other person shall be punished
with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine
which may extend to one lakh rupees, or with both.14

10
Available at: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/cyb/cybersecurity/legislation.html (visited on January 13,
2019)
11
Cyber stalking, Wikipedia, available at: https://en.wikipedia.org (visited on January 15,2019)
12
Supra note 3.
13
Supra note 8.
14
The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Act 21 of 2000)

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Chapter-2 Increasing Incidents of Cybercrimes in India

 Section 67 : This section prohibits and punishes the offence with the
imprisonment extending up to three years and fine in case of first conviction
and to five years and fine in case of second conviction for the publication,
transmission and causing of transmission of obscene content.15
 Section 67A: This provision has a special category called material containing
a „sexually explicit act‟. The publication, transmission or causing of
transmission of such material is punishable with imprisonment extending up
to five years and fine for first conviction and to seven years and fine upon
second conviction.16

ity
Ritu Kohli case was the first case of cyber stalking in India, in which different issues

rs
ve
were raised as to cyber stalking and laws governing it.

ni
U
In this case, a woman named Ritu Kohli was getting plenty of emails from an

lim
unidentified source. In the beginning she overlooked the mails. Then the person who
us
was stalking her started using indecent and vulgar words. He also wrote her telephone
M
h

number along with her personal details on various websites to invite people to chat
ar

with her on the phone. She started getting number of indecent and offensive calls at
lig
A

unusual hours from everywhere. Ritu Kohli approached the police and lodged a
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complaint. Delhi police straight away took an action and traced the IP address
ar
br

(Internet Protocol address) of the of a cyber café from where the stalker used to
Li

commit the said crime. The cyber stalker- Manish Kathuria was arrested by the Delhi
d
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police and was booked under sec 509 of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) for outraging the
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modesty of a woman as well as under the IT Act (Information Technology Act) of

na
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2000. 17
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The another incident of cyber stalking was that of a 28 year old woman named Neha
Ghai who used to get vulgar phone calls and obscene text messages on her phone and
emails. She lodged the complaint in cyber cell. The fact of her being the victim of
stalking in cyber world shocked her when she came to know that the offender
gathered her personal details from an objectionable site.

15
Ibid.
16
Ibid.
17
G. Rathinasabapathy and L. Rajendran, “ Cyber Crimes and Information Frauds: Emerging
Challenges For LIS Professionals,” Conference on Recent Advances in Science & Technology (
2007).

43 | P a g e
Chapter-2 Increasing Incidents of Cybercrimes in India

Cyber stalking is a serious issue of this century. The victims must right away notify
the police about the incident. One should also take precautionary steps in order to
avoid such incidence. For example one should always sign out the account if the
device is used by many persons. One should also apply password and keep changing
the password of the device where ones personal details and photos are stored.

4. Cyber Pornography: The next threat to female nitizens is cyber

pornography. It includes the publication and distribution of pornographic
materials in cyber space with the help of computers and internet. We can
define “Cyber pornography” as pornographic material which are designed to

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publish and distribute obscene material in cyber world. In India,

rs
watching pornography is not a crime, but creating and disseminating such

ve
material is an offence. 18 In such type of criminal activities women are not

ni
U
even aware that they are being victimized of such immoral publication of

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their own image.19 us
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Unlike other cyber crimes against women which are given less attention, the IT Act
h
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2000 has recognized cyber pornography as a grave offence. The perpetrator can be
lig

punished under Section 67 of the IT Act 2000 along with the other provisions of IPC.
A
y,

Besides Sections 292, 293, 292A, 294,509 of IPC deal with the sale of obscene
ar

books, sale of obscene objects to young person, printing or publishing of indecent

br
Li

matters, composing and writing of obscene songs, and outraging the modesty of
d

women respectively.20
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In Air Force Balbharati School & Anr. v. Delhi School & Ors,21a student of the Air
na
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Force Balbharati School, Delhi was teased by all his schoolmates for having a
au

pockmarked face. He was tired of the cruel jokes. He decided to get to teach lesson to
M

all his schoolmates. He, then scanned photographs of his classmates and teachers,
morphed them with nude photographs and put them up on a porno portal. It came to
the knowledge of the father of one of the class girls who was featured on the website.
He objected and lodged a complaint with the police for an action to be taken against
the culprit.
18
Tanmay S Dikshit ,“Cyber Pornography” , available at: https://www.digital4n6journal.com(visited
on January 15,2019)
19
Supra note 3.
20
Shobhanajeet, “Cyber crimes against women in India: Information Technology Act, 2000”,
available at: https://www.elixirpublishers.com (visited on January 20, 2019).
21
Abhimanyu Behera, “ Cyber Crimes and Law In India,” XXXI, IJCC 19 (2010)

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Chapter-2 Increasing Incidents of Cybercrimes in India

The another incident happened in Mumbai where a Swiss couple used to collect slum
children and then forced them to took off the clothes. The couple then clicked their
nude photographs and uploaded these photographs to websites specially designed for
pedophile. The Mumbai police arrested them for the offence of pornography. 22

5. Cyber Defamation: The term cyber defamation is a new concept. The

traditional definition of the word defamation is also applicable to the word
cyber defamation as it involves defamation of a person through a virtual
medium. In simple words we can say that it is an injury caused to the
reputation of a person in the eyes of a third person with the help of computer

ity
and internet. It includes the distribution of defamatory material against the

rs
ve
person on internet. The injury caused to a person by publishing a defamatory

ni
statement about him on a website is widespread and irreparable because the

U
information is available to the world at large. It affects the welfare of the

lim
community as a whole and not only the individual victim.23
us
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It takes 20 years to build a good reputation but it is destroyed within couple of days
h
ar

on the Net.24Unfortunately the offence of defamation in cyber space is not yet defined
lig
A

by the IT Act, 2000 but the perpetrator can be punished under sections 67 and 72 of
y,

the IT Act as well as IPC. The offence of defamation has also been deal within the
ar
br

provisions of criminal law for publication of obscene materials on the internet.

Li
d

6. Morphing: Morphing is an act of editing the original photograph by

za

unauthorized user. It was reported that female‟s pictures are downloaded from
A
na

their social media account by fake users and then uploaded on different
la

websites by creating fake profiles after editing it.25 This amounts to violation
au
M

of sections 43 & 66 of the I.T. Act, 2000. The violator can also be punished
under IPC. According to the news published in the month of October in “The
Times of India”, a beautician informed the Delhi police that her photograph
was displayed on a porno site along with her cell phone number.26

22
Supra note 17.
23
Cyber defamation in India, available at: http://www.helplinelaw.com (visited on January 19, 2019)
24
The Times of India 2010
25
Supra note 8.
26
Vandana B. Dave, “Cyber Crime against Women in India: A Study under Major Concern of
Netiquette in Cyber Space” 4 explorer (2014)

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Chapter-2 Increasing Incidents of Cybercrimes in India

7. E-mail spoofing: An e-mail is said to be spoofed when it misstate its origin. It

represents its origin to be different from its original source. E-mail spoofing is
27
a well-known method of online scamming. In spoofed e-mail the
sender/culprit, alter such properties i.e. location, address and other properties
of email in such a way as to defraud the recipient that the email was sent from
the known source. Such alteration of the specific parts of the e-mail by the
offender makes the e-mail to be of someone else and not of the actual user.28
The act of spoofing in done with the intention to spread virus, to gain access to
ones account to extract banking information and so on. The act of Email
spoofing is committed easily because the SMTP i.e. Simple Mail Transfer

ity
rs
Protocol which does not provide for an authentication process. Email spoofing

ve
causes financial loss too.

ni
U
2.4 Causes for the growth of Cyber crimes against Women

lim
us
After discussing different categories of cyber-crimes, we will now look into the
M

causes for the growth of crimes against women in cyber space. With the growth of the
h
ar

society, the crimes are also growing. Women and children are easily targeted in cyber
lig

space. The reasons behind such crimes are as follows:

A
y,

a) Jurisdictional Issue: The fact of cyber space being boundary less poses a
ar

serious problem for finding out jurisdiction on Internet. This is one of the
br
Li

reasons for increasing rate of cyber-crime. The problem as to the jurisdiction

d

arises when the offence is committed in one place and affects the person in
za
A

another place and the case is registered in another place. This is a matter of
na

serious concern which the society is facing today as to the place of suing.
la
au

Although in most of the criminal cases the issue of jurisdiction is solved by

M

applying criminal procedure code but the inability of IT Act,2000 upon the
jurisdictional matter happens to be the reason behind the increase in cyber
crimes. Section 75 of the Act specifically deals with incidents of cyber crime
committed outside India but it is silent on the issue of jurisdiction.29
b) Legal Factor: The aim of the framers while framing IT Act.2000 was to
enhance e-commerce. The majority of the provisions of this Act deal with e-
commerce. Most of the cyber crimes have not been directly dealt within the
27
Nidhi Agarwal &Dr Neeraj Kasuhik, “Cyber Crime Against Women”,4 GJRIM43 (2014).
28
Ibid.
29
Supra note 19.

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Chapter-2 Increasing Incidents of Cybercrimes in India

IT Act. Only three sections i.e. sections 66, 67 and 72as discussed earlier deal
with cyber crimes. Offences like trolling, hacking. Email harassment,
morphing, cyber defamation, email spoofing and transgressing into one‟s
privacy do not have direct provisions under IT Act. 30All the above crimes
committed against women and children are specially dealt within the
provisions of IPC, Cr.P.C and constitutional law.
c) Societal Factor: This is another reason for the growing rate of cyber crimes
against women because we Indian believe in family value and its honor. They
give importance to the respect given to them and their family by the society.
This is the reason why many cases of crimes against the women remain

ity
rs
unregistered. The hesitation or shyness of the victim and her fear of family

ve
being defamed in the eye of society encourage the offender for committing

ni
U
the crime repeatedly against different women.

lim
d) Unknown Offender: Last but not the least, the concealed identity of the
us
perpetrator on internet is also one of the reasons of cyber crime against the
M

women. They repeatedly harass and blackmail the women through different
h
ar

names and identities in cyber space.

lig
A

The above mentioned are some of the reasons for growing rate of cyber crimes against
y,
ar

the women in India. The belief of the society that the victim herself is responsible for
br

commission of crime is one of the reason why the victims do not approach the police.
Li
d

The hesitation of Indian women to approach the police against such crimes, whether
za
A

in the cyber world or in real world encourages the perpetrator. They choose to be
na

silent against such crimes because they feel that it may disturb their family life and
la

lower them in the estimation of society.

au
M

2.5 Cyber Security Scenario in India: An Analysis

With the general pattern of development of information technology worldwide, India
too has witnessed the tremendous growth in the use of information technology in all
walks of life. As per the date shared by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
(TRAI) annual report, the increase in the total internet subscribers from the year
2015 to 2018 is as follows:31

30
Supra note 20.
31
Available at: https://main.trai.gov.in/about-us/annual-reports/

47 | P a g e
Chapter-2 Increasing Incidents of Cybercrimes in India

(Total number of internet subscribers are in millions)

March 2015 March 2016 March 2017 March 2018 Increment %
302.35 342.65 422.20 493.96 63.37

This significant increase in the access to internet use in the country has resulted in
the increase of cyber crime incidents. The absence of user end guidelines for not
adequately protecting computer systems and the likelihood of mysterious utilization
of ICT32 which enables the users to impersonate their identity and cover their tracks
of wrongdoing, has encouraged progressively number of nitizens trying different
things with ICT maltreatment for crimes. This is the reason why the legal framework

ity
in the form of Information Technology Act 2000 is unable to curtail the incidence of

rs
ve
cyber crime and encouraging cyber security in the country. Due to this problem,

ni
India like any other country on the globe, is witnessing the significant increase in the

U
lim
crime rate.
Data analysed under Information Technology Act, 200033
us
M

Sl. Cases registered

h

Crime
ar

No.
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
lig

Tampering computer source

1 89 88 78 233 257 173
A

document (sec.65)
y,

Computer related offences (Ss.66

2 5548 6567 6818 10108 14141 23612
ar

to 66E)
3 Cyber Terrorism (sec.66F) 5 13 12 13 21 12
br

Publishing/transmitting of
Li

4 obscene / sexually explicit 758 816 957 1768 3076 4187

d

content (sec. 67 to 67C)

za

Intentionally not complying with

5 3 2 0 - - -
A

the order of controller (sec.68)

na

Failure to provide or monitor or

6 intercept or decrypt information 2 0 0 4 6 9
la

(sec.69)
au

Failure to block access to any

7 1 0 0 - - -
M

information hosted etc. (sec.69A)

Not providing technical
8 assistance to Govt. to enable 0 3 0 - - -
online access (sec.69B)
Un–authorized access/attempt to
9 access to protected computer 0 8 0 2 0 2
system (sec.70)
Misrepresentation of fact for
10 5 4 0 - - -
obtaining license etc.(sec.71)

32
Information and communication technology (ICT) is extensional term for information
technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration
of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computers, as well as
necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audiovisual systems, that enable users to
access, store, transmit, and manipulate information.
33
Data collected from National Crime Record Bureau 2015, 2016

48 | P a g e
Chapter-2 Increasing Incidents of Cybercrimes in India

Breach of confidentially(sec.72)
and disclosure of information on
11 18 24 35 - - -
breach of lawful contract
(sec.72A)
Publishing/making available false
12 electronic signature certificate 0 3 0 - - -
(sec.73)
Create/ publish/ make available
13 electronic signature certificate for 3 3 0 - - -
unlawful purpose (sec.74)
14 Others 769 514 713 1503 980 2720
Total offences under IT Act 7201 8045 8613 13635 18495 30729

Data analysed under Indian Penal Code 34

Sl. Cases Registered

ity
Crimes
No. 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

rs
ve
1 Data theft (ss. 379 to 381) 55 84 86 307 106 285

ni
U
Criminal breach of trust/ fraud
2 54 42 112 - - 6233

lim
(ss.406,408,409)
us
3 Cheating (sec.420) 1115 2255 2329 1896 2051 3393
M
h
ar

4 Forgery (ss.465-468, 471 & 477A 63 45 81 99 260 512

lig
A
y,

5 Counterfeiting (ss. 489A to 489E) 10 12 10 1 2 5

ar
br

Fabricating false evidence/

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6 destruction of electronic records 1 4 6 - - -

for evidence (ss.193,204)
d
za
A

7 Others 974 980 950 1086 1713 1849

na
la
au

Total offences under IPC 2272 3422 3518 7976 8647 13730
M

The cases of cyber crimes are increasing day by day due to extensive use of Internet
and I.T enabled services. As per the data given by national crime record bureau of the
years 2014 to 2019, the total numbers of cyber crime cases registered in the year
2014,2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 2019 in all categories are 9622, 11592, 12317, 21796,
27248, 44546 respectively, which shows the increase of 362.96% from 2014 to 2019.

34
Ibid.

49 | P a g e
Chapter-2 Increasing Incidents of Cybercrimes in India

As per the data given by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In),
the total numbers of cyber security incidents during the year 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017,
2018, 2019 and 2020 (till august)35 are 44679, 49455, 50362, 53117, 208456, 394499
and 696938 respectively, which shows the increase of 5.39% from 2016 to 201736 and
76.66% from 2019 to 2121.

2.6 Concluding Remark

India is among few countries, which enacted IT Act, 2000 to curtail the incidents of
cybercrimes. But the aim of the legislation was to cover commercial and economic
crimes only. 37 There are no direct provisions, which specifically deal with the

ity
protection of nitizens and only some stray provisions of the Act deal with the crimes

rs
ve
in cyber space. The IT Act is silent on the issue of cyber security in the cyber space.

ni
U
The growing incidences of cyber-crimes in cyber space can be minimized by taking

lim
the following precautionary steps: us
 One should not chat with unknown people in cyber space.
M


h

One should keep the passwords protected and keep changing it.
ar


lig

One should not save the personal and important stuff on the computer as the
A

hacker can access that.

y,


ar

If anything seems wrong, there should be immediate contact with the law
br

enforcement agencies without any hesitation.

Li


d

Government, public and private sector should make their IT infrastructure

za

secure
A
na

 One should keep their vulnerable information on that system which is not
la

connected to the internet.

au
M

The nitizens should report the cyber-crime as soon as possible so that the offenders do
not have an opportunity to escape.

35
Available at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/cyber-security-incidents-in-india-
tripled-to-3-5-lakh-in-july-august-from-jan-march-sanjay-dhotre/articleshow/78236843.cms
(visited on March 15, 2021)
36
Available at : https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/over-53000-cyber-security-
incidents-observed-in-2017/article22705876.ece , (visited on Feb. 12 ,2018)
37
http://www.genderit.org/es/node/2213)

50 | P a g e