Internet becomes serious crime in

* New law allows inspectors to raid and arrest suspects without warrant

By Iftikhar Gilani

NEW : A new law introduced in India has made Internet pornography a serious crime.

Browsing or downloading pornographic pictures or films will now attract a punishment of five years with a fine of up to Rs 1 million. The term may be raised to seven years on second offence.

Raid: The Information Technology (Amendment) Bill that was passed without debate by parliament this week with 45 amendments in the original law treats both purveyors of pornography and recipients in the same manner. It gives wide powers to the authorities that a computer user may realise only when he is hauled up. The worst is that an inspector can raid and arrest an accused without a warrant.

In the original law enacted in 2000, this power was vested in officers of the rank of deputy superintendent of police and above.

Some websites automatically open with pornographic pictures that might leave footprints in a user’s computer that would be enough for an inspector to arrest and prosecute the person.

To satisfy the activists who campaign against child abuse, the bill provides a full section subtitled ‘punishment for publishing or transmitting of material depicting children in sexually explicit act, etc in electronic form’.

If any of these are found on a computer, the onus is on the owner to establish that the depicted are not children or will be punished. Another section of the bill provides for any government agency to interrupt, monitor or decrypt any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer.

Ambiguity has been kept in the provision that empowers the cyber security to monitor the Internet traffic.

Introducing any ‘contaminant’ in a computer or network is covered in the new category of ‘cyber terrorism’ in the bill that would attract imprisonment and might extend to life term since it claims “such conduct causes or is likely to cause death or injuries to persons or damages to or destruction of property”. It does not explain how a computer crime could cause death or injuries.

Cyber terrorism also seeks to cover other acts of terrorism committed electronically like threatening the unity, integrity, security or sovereignty of India or to strike terror on the people or to access computer sources that are restricted for reasons of security of the state or foreign relations.

The bill also provides for punishment with a jail term of up to three years and a fine for sending any information — that is grossly offensive or has menacing character or is known to be false — for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred or ill will, or any electronic mail or message meant to cause annoyance or inconvenience or to deceive or mislead the addressee or recipient.t.

Identity theft to misuse a person’s electronic signature, password or any other unique identification feature or impersonation in electronic activity are punishable with a three-year imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 0.1 million.

Thefts of computer source codes and programmes have also been dealt with in the bill.

DAMAYANTI DATTA NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 18, 2012 | UPDATED 11:29 IST The Dark Side Of Sunny Porn Pornography on the Internet hits Indian society TAGS: Sunny Leone | Porn |Adult entertainment industry |Pornography | Pornography in India | Bigg Boss 5 | Porn clips | Savita Bhabhi | Blue Film | | Jessica |Drake | Sunny Leone

RELATEDS  Sunny Leone ready to quit porn for B'wood  Sunny's secrets revealed | World's top porn stars  It's quite Sunny in Bigg Boss

After her high-profile stint on Bigg Boss 5, Canadian-Indian porn star Sunny Leone, 30, co-hosted the US porn industry's biggest night, the AVN Awards show in Las Vegas on January 21. On February 7, three Karnataka ministers were captured on television poring over a phone screen, watching a woman in a petticoat gyrating wildly. They lost their jobs for watching pornography in the sacred precincts of the Legislative Assembly. The incident is a high-profile sample of a definitive reality: porn is pervasive through the Internet across India, easily and freely available, not just to leery politicians but to children and adults in millions of ordinary homes. It is a sign of the times that the most famous international porn star has Indian roots and was on Indian television. Sunny Leone, 30, appeared on the reality show Big Boss 5 and has now launched a clothes-on career. Her fake breasts, that won the 2010 fame Award for Favourite Breasts in , have brought her the honour of being named among the 50 Most Desirable Women by the nation's biggest daily this month.

The organised $12 billion (Rs.60,000 crore) American adult entertainment industry, to which Leone belongs, has bred explicit images beyond the limits of imagination. And they are free. Fuelled by the Internet and facilitated by high-speed data service, pornography, born in dozens of studio lofts around the world, has entered teenagers' mobile phones with the force and sweep of a dangerous flood. It threatens to swamp conventional notions of morality, raise tensions in bedrooms, lure children into a world they do not understand, and initiate a culture that threatens the mores of family life as we know it.

She never got her wish of posing nude for the Indian cricket team but kept herself busy making videos bathing in a two-piece, stripping for a magazine shoot and posting semi-nude pictures on her website. The writing is on the wall. Trends show the search volume index for the word 'porn' has doubled in India between 2010 and 2012. With instant Net connectivity and flexible payment options, online porn is increasingly affordable, accessible and acceptable. Seven Indian cities are among the top 10 in the world on porn search, reports Google Trends, 2011. One out of five mobile users in India wants adult content on his 3G-enabled phone, according to an 2011 IMRB Survey. Over 47 per cent students discuss porn every day, says a public school survey by Max Hospital in Delhi. Porn tops the list of cyber crimes in India, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Click here to Enlarge Rape, penetration, oral, anal, lesbian, gay or group porn are yesterday's news. There is now a hectic crossover of porn subcultures on the World Wide Web. Consider MILF (or Mothers I Like to F***) porn. "Check out the most notorious hot, mature moms going crazy and getting f****d by young studs," invites one of the 40,600,000 MILF websites. "A hot and sexy bride is getting raped brutally," says a 'ravished bride' porn site. There is 'pregnant porn' ("Are you ready to see these moms-to-be in action?). There is 'incest porn' that welcomes you to sites with "xxx videos full of mother and son, dad and daughter". Child porn blends with 'teen porn', promising "fascinating porn actions starring our young models". New jargon and innovative formats, borrowed from foreign cultures, are trendy on the web. For the uninitiated, chikan ("to grope" in Japanese) porn is all about public molestation in trains. 'Bukkake' parties involve repeated ejaculation on a woman by several men. Shemale and futanari porn mean "live action" with transsexuals. Anime and manga refer to Japanese formats of sexually- explicit comics and animation. A new focus is the service sector, with "shy massage girls" seducing clients, doctors and "hot babes in nurse uniforms" getting wild. In 'corporate porn' "busty secretaries" go down on their knees to pleasure their boss.

Asa Akira (26): This Japanese-American is a newcomer to the top league. In 2012, she won seven AVNAwards, the 'Oscars of porn', awarded to honour exceptional performance in American adult movies. Sunny Leone (or Karen Malhotra) takes credit for the 'pornification' of India. "My presence on Bigg Bosshas empowered a lot of people to be open about their sexuality," she tells . One of the richest adult actresses in the industry, with her SunLust Pictures in Los Angeles reporting a top line of over $1 million (Rs.5 crore), she is now getting ready to debut in filmmaker 'sJism 2, playing a professional body double. The most-searched Google celebrity-powered by India, Bangladesh and Pakistan-she has 1,47,326 Twitter followers. Leone's success indicates the greater acceptability of porn in daily life. Internet is the new tool, exploding every embarrassing sexual adventure of public personalities (see box) and making every lurid detail an item of private consumption. Coming after the midwife Bhanwri Devi's sex cds with Rajasthan politician Mahipal Maderna in November 2011, public reaction to the Karnataka fiasco has ranged from indignation to amusement, but not shock: if political parties engaged in a morality-in-politics war, social activist Anna Hazare demanded the ministers be sent to jail and media professional Pritish Nandy summed up Bollywood's reaction by calling them the "3 idiots". "A porn star doesn't automatically mean prostitute," says Leone, now seeking respectability. She talks about her parents' initial shock turning into respect, how they taught her to be a "good person", years of hard work, restrained personal life, professionalism and lack of regrets. Like the girl-next-door, she tweets how she is learning Hindi, cooking sabziand massaging hair oil. Her endeavour will not be too difficult. Young adults, who grew up with cable TV, DVD players and the Internet, have been exposed to much more adult material than their parents. As filmmaker points out, "Young people don't respond negatively to Sunny because they have already logged on to her website."

Click here to Enlarge She is not wrong. Even school students discuss porn. Dr Samir Parikh, chief psychiatrist, Max Healthcare, calls it "risky indulgences". In a survey on 1,000 children from top public schools in Delhi in 2010, he found 47 per cent boys and 29 per cent girls visiting porn sites and talking about it in school. "I understand sexual inquisitiveness and peer pressure around sexuality, but pornography on the Internet is fake, unreal, often violent and downright perverted," he says. "Moreover, a new technology in young hands could lead to irresponsible behaviour and ruin their lives." He obviously has in mind the stream of MMS scandals that have hit campuses across the country since 2004, when two Class XI students of a school in Delhi created a sensation. In many of these cases, either one partner was not aware of being filmed or did not anticipate the videos would get circulated-as in May 2011 when JNU student Janardan Kumar, 22, made a video of the girl he was intimate with and used it to blackmail her after being rejected. Campus porn is a thriving subterranean culture. Try talking to students in various campuses of Delhi: "Have you ever heard of MMS videos of students being circulated on the campus?"

Diksha , 20: "Every couple of months there is a fresh case. It's so common, I don't even blink."

Raghav Verma, 19: "All the time. It's shocking to see a classmate's intimate details on video camera."

Mehak Suri, 18: "My ex-boyfriend tried that with me, and when it didn't work he sent me threatening emails and messages."

Bree Olson (25): A multiple AVN Award winner, the Caucasian American blonde was one of actor Charlie Sheen's girlfriends living in his mansion when he had a meltdown leading to his departure from the hit TV show Two and a Half Men. Amaira Kapoor, 20: "You will be surprised to know how many cases go unreported and unaccounted for." Sakshi Wakhlu, 21: "A year ago, one girl got high, went with a group of boys and had sex with them. The men came back and talked."

The arrival of smartphones is changing the country's porn landscape further. India has the lowest penetration of smartphones, 10 per cent, among the youth globally. But with email, social networking, chatting, messaging and gaming, it is a device every youth craves for. And now there are even porn applications. Imagine a 'pocket' girlfriend or boyfriend, who can strip, talk dirty, make sexual noises. "These are some of the 'apps' that can be downloaded on smartphones," says Pranesh Prakash, programme manager with -based think-tank Centre for Internet and Society. "App download data shows the popularity of sex-themed apps on smartphones, apart from the adults-only stores," he says. Age restrictions for applications? Mostly a pop-up asking if one is over 17. With over 50 per cent of all Internet users in the country accessing the web via mobile phones already, as estimated by TRAI, smartphones are the future of anytime-anywhere porn.

The threshold of what can be called 'pornography' is shifting. Mainstream and hardcore entertainment are coming closer. , biopic of south siren Silk Smitha, raked in Rs.50 crore in its very first week in December 2011, with its noisy orgasms, titillating cleavage and fiery dialogues. It's also hard to draw the line between porn and art in raunchy item numbers, fromSheila ki Jawani to Munni Badnam Hui. "What heroines do in films today is what vamps did yesterday," says filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt. Some item numbers are more obscene than nudity, he feels. "People tell me, how can someone who made Saaransh, Arth and Zakhm, make films like Jismand Murder" he adds. "I say, get off the high horse." Kolkata certainly is getting off the high horse. A city with the least taste for pornography, going by India Today Sex Surveys, is also one of the top seekers of porn online, reports Google Trends. Leone's CDs are bestsellers here. Teenage boys creep up and ask, "Sunny Leone ka CD chahiye?" (Want Sunny Leone's CDs?), at Chandni Chowk market in central Kolkata, the city's piracy hub. Step inside the dingy alleys between shops selling electronic goods, and piles of pirated blue film come out of hiding-Rs.120 for just a CD andRs.250 for one with Leone on the cover. Ask too many questions and they show you the door. The police are their friends, although motorcycles stand ready for sudden crackdowns. "Sunny's CD is selling like hot cakes, 200 a day," says one. Leone is not pleased. "If you are stealing my movies in Kolkata, that is flipping horrible," she has tweeted. But who cares? A 33-year-old customer puts away her CD in his plastic bag with quiet satisfaction. "I will have to watch when the wife is not looking," he grins. If a married man watches porn,is it considered cheating??

My husband secretly watches porn. Why are men like this? He knows I hate porn.

My husband watches porn alone. He refuses to watch it with me.

My husband watches porn very often. Should I be worried?

I feel insulted whenever my boyfriend watches porn.

Jessica Drake (37): A Caucasian American blonde, Drake is contracted to Wicked Pictures, a top porn studio. She is a multiple winner and former co-host of the AVN Awards. There are 2,690,000 such postings on Google, from wives and girlfriends globally, on a range of sites on the web- health, marriage, empowerment, agony. Watching porn alone is a rising trend among men, thanks to the Internet. Check out India Today Sex Surveys: in 2009, with video as the most popular porn format, just 10 per cent men out of 2,661 watched porn alone. This year, with smarter access and gadgets, it zoomed to 44 per cent. "It is usually a sign of cybersex addiction," says Dr Vijay Nagaswami, -based expert on sexual psychotherapy. "Compulsive pornwatchers often become dysfunctional. They stay up late for online porn to get active on instant messengers, webcams, demand more private time, neglect family, work and normal sexual activity."

Even five years back, it was difficult to get locals to dub foreign porn films in Gujarati. But now, mobile shop owners in Ahmedabad do brisk business in porn, supplying primarily to youngsters. They download content on hard discs and then transfer those to the memory cards of eager youngsters-Rs.100 to Rs.200 for a 30-minute film. "It's good business. Sometimes I get more than six customers, all boys," says Rajesh Patel, a porn-provider.

C It's good business in Chennai, too. In a small shop opposite the high court in Burma Bazaar, the hub of pirated movies in Chennai, Ramu is doing his puja. He throws flowers at the gods, and looks at his customer. "English, Tamil also." His voice goes an octave lower, "Triple." Who cares for storylines? Many of these films are shot in the city or taken off the Net. Ramu sells at least 100 discs a day, mostly to distributors. The CDs are mostly of Indian couples having sex, sometimes verging on rape. "This business can't be hit by recession," Ramu says. "People will always buy porn." The buzz is, although the Karnataka ministers claimed they were watching clips of a real-life gang-rape at a rave party, they were either watching Indonesian hardcore 'abik' porn or model Poonam Pandey's YouTube video, Bathroom Secrets. But what do most Indians watch? Google Trends indicates that the average Indian pornwatcher opts for more tame keywords, 'sex' and 'how to kiss', the most. New research by computational neuroscientists Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam from Boston University, US, on a billion porn and erotic web searches across the world, shows that the five most popular porn sites for men are webcam or video sites featuring anonymous graphic sex, with a monthly traffic of 7-16 million visitors. For women, the most popular is the "erotic" site fanfiction.net, which gets over 1.5 million visitors a month and has more than two million stories, 50 per cent being "romance".

Click here to Enlarge How big is pornography in India? Of the 500 top Indian websites this month ranked by the leading global web information company Alexa, at least 24 are porn sites. Nearly a dozen porn sites are more popular than some leading news sites and that of the . Leone, one of the top five global porn stars, says 80 per cent of her web traffic and 60 per cent of her "high six figures" revenue come from India. The content, she says, is "everything and above". "I can sell anything you want as long as you have a credit card." The only other major-league porn actor of Indian origin in the US, Priya Anjali Rai, also says she has a lot of fans in India, but not many paying customers. Adopted from New Delhi by American parents and brought up in Arizona, Rai keeps her Indian name for her work: "That's what makes me different from everybody else." Both Leone and Rai insist they only do "vanilla" porn, "boy-girl stuff". The US, specifically the Los Angeles area, has the biggest porn industry in the world, followed by London and Budapest, estimated between $4 billion (Rs.20,000 crore) and $15 billion (Rs.75,000 crore) annually. Top porn stars easily earn a quarter of a million dollars annually.

Manuel Ferrara (36): The French porn actor and adult film director is a multiple winner of AVN's Male Performer of the Year Award. In 2012, he became the first actor to win AVN's Male Performer of the Year four times. Those who think production and distribution of pornography in India are not allowed, think again. "A lot of amateur videos are being produced," says Namita Malhotra, author of Porn: Law, Video and Technology. "They have been there for long. But now from print they have gone digital. Amateur videos are a new phenomenon," says a lawyer associated with Alternative Law Forum in Bangalore. "It's unorganised," says a Bangalore-based photographer involved with the porn industry. There are a few big houses who run multi-crore businesses. The small players use small video cameras so that they can be seen on mobile phones. "Ever since the mms scandal, we make false scandal videos, called kaand," the photographer says. "It's normal sex. Not like those foreign videos where they use horses and 10 men at the same time." Do they go online? Sometimes they are sold, but always with the permission of the model, "No force," he insists. "The money is good, so that we don't tell anyone." His best moment? When a model askedhim to shoot her in different ways, to try to create a scandal and get noticed. Five Most Viewed Global Porn Genres. Click here to Enlarge Has the battle against porn been lost? Anti-porn feminists in the US have admitted defeat. India is not quite there. Despite the hyper-sexualised climate, ministers do get thrown out over porn. To cyber law expert and senior associate of SNG & Partners Rahul Sud, India is on the right track. "Personal consumption of porn has never been an offence," he points out. "Child pornography, publishing and transmitting are." Press Council of India Chairperson Justice Markandey Katju has rolled out the red carpet for Leone, but not before comparing her to history's "fallen women", Amrapali or Mary Magdalene. {mosimage}Does Leone care? She is busy stretching, bending and sweating. Not in a girl-boy-girl orgy online but on a Bikram Yoga mat in Hollywood. "OMG, I'm so tired," she tweets. She has the same vital statistics as Marilyn Monroe, 36-24-34, and she is determined to look her best for those semi-nude scenes in . "We Indians are proud of you!," tweets one of her admirers. "Thank you," she tweets back. She has every reason to be grateful.

- With Indira Kannan, Nishat Bari, Kiran Tare, Gunjeet Sra, Shravya Jain, Avantika Sharma, Lakshmi Kumaraswami, Uday Mahurkar and Tithi Sarkar

Read more at:http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/pornography-on-the-internet-hits-indian-society-sunny-leone/1/174081.html

Law relating to Cyber Pornography in India

Pornography or obscenity is very sensitive issue all over the world yet there is no settled definition of the word under any law. What is nude art or sexually explicit thing for one person may be obscene or porn for another. Hence, it is very difficult to define “What is porn?”

There have been many attempts to limit the availability of pornographic content on the Internet by governments and law enforcement bodies all around the world but with little effect. Classic example is a website,www.incometaxpune.com, prima facie, it looks a website of Income tax department of Pune City, but actually it’s a porn site. Though it was blocked many times by law enforcement agencies in India, it is still available with obscene contains.

Pornography on the Internet is available in different formats. These range from pictures and short animated movies, to sound files and stories (remember “Savitabhabhi”!!!). The Internet also makes it possible to discuss sex, see live sex acts, and arrange sexual activities from computer screens. Although the Indian Constitution guarantees the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression; it has been held that a law against obscenity is constitutional. The Supreme Court has defined obscene as “offensive to modesty or decency; lewd, filthy, repulsive”.

Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 penalizes cyber pornography. Other Indian laws that deal with pornography include the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act and the .

Section 67 reads as under:- Whoever publishes or transmits or causes to be published or transmitted in the electronic form, any material which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest or if its effect is such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it, shall be punished on first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years and with fine which may extend to five lakh rupees and in the event of second or subsequent conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years and also with fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees.

This section explains what is considered to be obscene and also lists the acts in relation to such obscenity that are illegal.

Explanation Any material in the context of this section would include video files, audio files, text files, images, animations etc. These may be stored on CDs, websites, computers, cell phones etc.

Lascivious is something that tends to excite lust. Appeals to, in this context, means “arouses interest”. Prurient interest is characterized by lustful thoughts. Effect means to produce or cause some change or event. Tend to deprave and corrupt in the context of this section means “to lead someone to become morally bad”. Persons here refers to natural persons (men, women, children) and not artificial persons (such as companies, societies etc).

To be considered obscene for the purpose of this section, the matter must satisfy at least one of the following conditions:-

 it must tend to excite lust, or  it must arouse interest in lustful thoughts, or  it must cause a person to become morally bad.

The above conditions must be satisfied in respect of a person who is the likely target of the material.

Illustration Sameer launches a website that contains information on sex education. The website is targeted at higher secondary school students. Pooja is one such student who is browsing the said website. Her illiterate young maid servant happens to see some explicit photographs on the website and is filled with lustful thoughts. This website would not be considered obscene. This is because it is most likely to be seen by educated youngsters who appreciate the knowledge sought to be imparted through the photographs. It is under very rare circumstances that an illiterate person would see these explicit images.

Acts those are punishable in respect of obscenity:- “Publishing” means “to make known to others”. It is essential that at least one natural person (man, woman or child) becomes aware or understands the information that is published. Simply putting up a website that is never visited by any person does not amount to publishing.

“Transmitting” means to pass along convey or spread. It is not necessary that the “transmitter” actually understands the information being transmitted.

Information in the electronic form includes websites, songs on a CD, movies on a DVD, jokes on a cell phone, photo sent as an email attachment etc.

The punishment provided under this section is as under:-

• First offence: Simple or rigorous imprisonment up to 3 years and fine up to Rs 5 lakh.

• Subsequent offence: Simple or rigorous imprisonment up to 5 years and fine up to Rs 10 lakh.

Amendments of 2008 introduced new Section on Cyber pornography i.e. Section 67A.

The Section makes publishing or transmitting of sexually explicit act or conduct illegal with a punishment of imprisonment upto five years and with fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees for first offence and seven years for subsequent offences.

Hence, the Section makes publishing or transmission of blue films, audio sex clips, pictures, magazines and any other material in the electronic form involving sexually explicit acts illegal.

Section 67A.

Law relating to Child Pornography in India Child pornography means portrayal of children in all forms of media incl. images, films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child. Due to the free availability of information on the Internet, a major risk that a child may be exposed to is inappropriate material, sexual, hateful, or violent in nature, or encourages activities that are dangerous or illegal.

World is very liberal in accepting ―Adult Porn‖‖ , but Child Porn is strictly banned and punishable with strict imprisonment. Ninety four of 187 member states of Interpol have Laws banning Child Pornography (Source - Wikipedia).

India, though have a Law relating to Pornography which we have seen in last edition. But that law has general applicability and importantly it is applicable only if you ―Publish‖‖ or ―Transmit obscene material in electronic form and hence, it leaves many loopholes while interpreting. Hence, as per the amendments of 2008 under the Information technology Act, new Section specifically dealing with Child Pornography has been introduced.

It reads as under:- Section 67 (B) Punishment for publishing or transmitting of material depicting children in sexually explicit act, etc., in electronic form. Whoever — (a) Publishes or transmits or causes to be published or transmitted material in any electronic form which depicts children engaged in sexually explicit act or conduct; or (b) Creates text or digital images, collects, seeks, browses, downloads, advertises, promotes, exchanges or distributes material in any electronic form depicting children in obscene or indecent or sexually explicit manner, or (c) Cultivates, entices or induces children to online relationship with one or more children for and on sexually explicit act or in a manner that may offend a reasonable adult on the computer resource; or (d) Facilitates abusing children online, or (e) Records in any electronic form own abuse or that of others pertaining to sexually explicit act with children,

Punishment:- For first instance - Imprisonment up to 5 years For subsequent instances – Imprisonment up to 7 years And fine up to Rs. Ten Lakh. This provision does not extend to any book, pamphlet, paper, writing, and drawing, painting representation or figure in electronic form— (i) The publication of which is proved to be justified as being for the public good on the ground that such book, pamphlet, paper, writing drawing, painting representation or figure is the interest of science, literature, art or learning or other objects of general concern; or (ii) Which is kept or used for bonafide, heritage or religious

Explanation For the purposes of this section ―children‖ means a persons who has not completed the age of 18 years.

http://www.chmag.in/article/oct2011/law-relating-child-pornography-india pinion The Law on pornography in India & implication on Cyber cafe operators

Cyber Cafe operators have many time been implicated for the acts of their customers.

Legal expert Mr Lekhesh Dholakia has on IAMAI's request released a paper describing the The Law on Pornography in India & its implication on Cyber Cafe operators

THE LAW ON PORNOGRAPHY IN INDIA

Pornography and Obscenity

The term ‘pornography’ when used in relation to an offence is not defined in any statutes in India but the term ‘obscenity’ has been effectively explained in two statutes in India, and these legislations prescribe that ‘obscenity’ in certain circumstances constitutes an offence. These legislations are (i) The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (‘IPC’) and (ii) The Information Technology Act, 2000 (‘IT Act’).

Although neither the IPC nor the IT Act defines what ‘obscenity’ is, section 292 of the IPC and section 67 of the IT Act, (which corresponds to section 292 of the IPC) explain ‘obscenity’ to mean anything which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest or if its effect is to deprave and corrupt persons. Therefore according to the law in India, anything that is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest or if its effect is to deprave and corrupt persons would be considered to be ‘obscene’.

Obscenity as an offence under the Indian Penal Code.

Section 292 of the IPC comprehensively sets out the circumstances in which ‘obscenity’ and / or any ‘obscene’ material is an offence.

According to section 292, (i) whoever sells, lets to hire, distributes, publicly exhibits or in any manner puts into circulation, or for purposes of sale, hire, distribution, public exhibition or circulation, makes, produces or has in his possession any obscene book, pamphlet, paper, drawing, painting, representation, or figure or any other obscene object whatsoever or (ii) imports, exports or conveys any obscene object for any of the purposes mentioned in (i) above, or knowing or having reason to believe that such obscene object will be sole, let to hire, distributed or publicly exhibited or in any manner out into circulation, or (iii) takes part in or receives profits from any business in the course of which he knows or has reason to believe that any such obscene objects are, for any of the purposes mentioned in (i) above, made, produced, purchased, kept, imported, exported, conveyed, publicly exhibited or in any manner put into circulation, or (iv) advertises or makes known by any means whatsoever that any person is engaged or is ready to engage in any act which is an offence under section 292 or that any such obscene object can be procured from or through any person or (v) offers or attempts to do any act which is an offence under section 292, is punishable with imprisonment and fine. Therefore, obscenity is an offence if it falls within any of the above prescribed purposes.

Obscenity – personal viewing – Is it an offence From a plain reading of Section 292 of the IPC it appears that if a person is in mere possession of the obscene material for his personal use without any intention to perform any of the purposes specified in section 292 (as stated above) it may not be an offence under section 292. In the case of Jagdish Chavla and others v/s the State of Rajasthan, 1999 CR LJ 2562 (Raj), the accused was caught viewing an obscene film on the television with the help of a VCR which along with the cassette was seized and a case under section 292 of the IPC was registered. The accused filed a petition in the High Court for quashing of the proceedings and it was held that simply being in possession of a blue film could not make a person guilty under section 292 unless it was further proved that the purpose of keeping the same was selling or letting it on hire. Therefore without proving the purpose of keeping the same no offence mentioned in section 292 was made out and the proceedings were quashed. The law therefore excludes from liability (under section 292) the mere possession of obscene material for ones own personal use without any intention to perform any of the purposes specified in section 292.

However, it would be prudent to be aware that a prosecution may lie for mere possession of obscene material also. It could be argued that a person, even though he is in mere possession of the obscene material which may be for his own personal use, actually aids and abets the publication, sale, hire, distribution etc of the obscene material, which is an offence under section 292. And under section 111 of the IPC, the abettor is held to be equally guilty of the offence which he has abetted provided it is proved that the offence is a probable consequence of the abetment.

Exceptions under the Indian Penal Code

Section 292 also sets out the purposes under which obscenity is not deemed to be an offence and these are when any such material is used (i) justifiably for the public good for e.g. interest of science, literature, art or learning or other purposes of general concern (ii) for bona-fide religious purposes and (iii) in any ancient monument within the meaning of the Ancient Monuments and Archeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 or in any temple, or on any car used for the conveyance of idols.

Obscenity under the Information Technology Act

Section 67 of the IT Act lays down the law that obscenity is an offence when it is published or transmitted or caused to be published in any electronic form. The expressions, ‘publishing’ or ‘transmission’ have not been specifically defined under the IT Act, but in Taxmann’s commentary under the IT Act, ‘publishing means making information available to people’. The commentary also states that ‘transmission’ and not mere possession, of obscene information is an offence. Transmission may be addressed to an intended recipient for his personal use. But that is not relevant. The act of ‘transmission’ is sufficient to constitute an offence under section 67 of the IT Act. Therefore if any obscene material is published or transmitted in any electronic form it is an offence under section 67 of the IT Act. The provisions of section 67 of the IT Act are therefore similar to section 292 of the IPC where mere possession of the obscene material for ones own personal use may not be construed as on offence, however, it would be advisable to be cognizant of the fact that the prosecution can take a plea of abetment in a case of mere possession.

Although section 292 of the IPC principally deals with obscene material capable of expression in the physical medium such as books, pamphlets, papers, writings, drawings, paintings, representations, and the provisions of section 67 (which correspond to the provisions of section 292 of the IPC as stated above) under the IT Act, deal with computer systems and networks, intangible medium of the internet and electronic communication devices such as the cellular phone handsets, a prosecution can be commenced independently or jointly under both the Acts.

Applicability of the Acts to cybercafé owners

In the context of cybercafés in particular, if a customer downloads any obscene material for his personal viewing on the terminal assigned to him and this fact is known to the owner of the cybercafé it would constitute an offence and the owner of the cybercafé would be liable under section 292 of the IPC read with Section 67 of the IT Act. Provided however, if it is established that this act was without the knowledge of the owner of the cybercafé it could be difficult for the prosecution to sustain its plea under section 292 of the IPC and section 67 of the IT Act. However the owner may not be completely exonerated from liability and it is possible that he may be held responsible for abetting the offence (if not for its commission) in terms of facilitating the circulation and distribution of the obscene material.

The law relating to the liability of cybercafé owners under these provisions of the IPC and the IT Act is not very well settled and therefore open to subjective interpretation. To mitigate liability and to avoid possible criminal prosecution the cybercafé owners could perhaps make an attempt to take protection under section 79 of the IT Act, which absolves ‘intermediaries’, who only provide access to content but do not provide content itself, by extending the argument of intermediaries to cybercafés (although not tested in courts in India). The grounds of defense could be also made stronger by setting up a mechanism (hardware or software) whereby the customers are prevented from accessing any obscene websites and disclaimers are displayed prominently informing customers that obscenity is an offence which is punishable with imprisonment and that despite the warning, if customers still view such websites, they will be personally responsible and not the owner of the cybercafé.

However, this argument (of drawing a parallel between intermediaries and cybercafé owners) has not been judicially tested so far and from a plain reading of section 79 of the IT Act, the intermediaries are restricted to mean only ‘network service providers’ such as Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited etc. Even in such cases, the provisions of section 79 of the IT Act imposes an obligation on intermediaries that they would be able to take the benefit of this section only if it is shown that the offence was committed without their knowledge or that they had exercised all due diligence to prevent its commission. What exactly is this due diligence is unfortunately not defined or explained in the IT Act so it is completely open for the prosecution to define its own level of due diligence.

Under the circumstances, the law as it stands on obscenity with regard to the liability it imposes on the owners of cybercafés is certainly not free from doubt and casts an onerous obligation on them to successfully defend a prosecution under the relevant provisions of the IPC and the IT Act. However, if certain precautions are observed such as establishing mechanisms which block such websites and displaying the disclaimers as suggested above, prominently, at least may help in providing a good defense.

Punishments prescribed under the Acts for obscenity

The punishment for an offence under section 292 of the IPC is on first conviction with imprisonment (simple or rigorous) for a term which may extend to two years, and with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees, and in the event of a second or subsequent convictions, with imprisonment (simple or rigorous) for a term which may extend to five years, and also with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees.

The punishment for an offence under section 67 of the IT Act is on first conviction with imprisonment (simple or rigorous) for a term which may extend to five years, and with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, and in the event of a second or subsequent convictions, with imprisonment (simple or rigorous) for a term which may extend to ten years, and also with fine which may extend to two lakh rupees.

Prepared by Lekhesh Dholakia Lekhs Legal 3rd December, 2005

Explore Related Categories: Legal | ICT Entrepreneur | Academic interest | General |Opinions | Resources | India add new comment Internet Pornography In India:A Pleasureful Disastrous Of Nation!!! It's a article explicit to showcase some cultural change in India.Article written with intention to show how American culture affecting children and youth.I think something as too be done in order to change future of India.This article exclusive on pornography/Abusing contents affecting children.So before reading the article we openly declare that it may contain some adult contents excuse for it.

What is pornography?

Pornography an exclusive sexual subject matter published in Internet,books,magazine,photos,videos,art,painting etc for a business.Pornography a global business targeting large section of youth in adolescence age.Pornography as legal status in many countries and illegal done in other countries.Pornography a $60-70 billion Industry legally and $100 billion illegally.American's are largest producers of pornography in the world.Today global pornography market targets largest youth populated nation in the world-India.

Pornography In India:

Pornography as reached India to a such extent even in assembly MLA watch porn.Leaders who had to stop penetration of pornography itself fall pray for it.Blue film most reached word than pornography in India.Every day more than 100 blue film are produced in India.About 70 % of Internet users visit at least one time porn site a month.since development of 2G,3G and Internet opened a new market for pornography in India.Today most of the school going student use mobile with which they just share pornography.Rapid technology development as made under adolescence children getting into new world of sex.The most valued fact there is no difference between girls and boys.

Funny Fact:

 Most of the porn stars as only fake breast.  Most of the erection in porn movies are produced by injection.  They are paid up heavily to fool u up.  Most of the video projected as real video are all porn start or prostitute video.  Porn star use drugs to get excitation and take big ones inside. Impact On India:

 Children of age between 13 to 18 were targeted and they fall pray for it.Children enter a new world which they don't understand in that age.  Pornography business in India banned so its only taking place illegally.It's add to our black money.  Pornography a main source which motivates all sexual violence against the women.  Internet users in India are hunger for porn in Internet.Every year porn,sex is the most searched word in Google.  There about 4-5 million porn website all over the world.  India male and female spent hours alone watching porn according to report.  Availability of Internet makes them to chat,social,message with unknown stranger share there sex interest.

Problem:

 It affects our economy as everything related to porn are illegal.(Black market)  Children who are below 19years watch porn movies force them try to get pleasure of sex.Which forces children to masturbate,homosexual,try sex with friends and even to prostitutes.  When children get pleasure of sexual feeling,they get addicted to it.Addiction to pornography creates stress,mental instability and bad attitude etc.  There is a greater chance of DSM(Diagnostic statistical mental disorder)  Many children lose there virginity before they complete education.Most pathetic of all many get pregnant too.  Even for producing porn movie they want new girls for each film,so they force girls into pornography and prostitution.  Indian porn lovers view mostly small age group girls and boys in sex,so there is significant increase in share of children pornography.  It destroy culture of a society and create madness for sex forcing social and sexual crime.  It may even have impact on after marriage sex life.  Force them to select other pleasure methods also smoking,drinking and drugs.

Solution:

Over three thousand years back,when rest of the world indulged in homo sex,Family sex etc.In India sex as been adored as most purist form of love for attaining god.Ancient India glorified sex,every guru kulam taught sex to student.Even women had school to know what is sex and purpose of it.Kama sutra one world's finest book on sex written by Indians. Kama sutra as been source for many sex education through the world,but in India we don't have sex education.A nation which taught the world art of sex must have sex education.Sex education can only make children to select good and bad.

Government can't block all porn website form India,since most of the server outside India.At least they can direct law towards protecting girls from forced prostitution.

Children come under this problem only due to over freedom like mobile,excess Internet,money etc.I think even both parents working as made children to over come idealness they move into sex world.

We can reduce porn watching activity by closing Internet as soon as our work over,diverting mind over other matter.

Parents and teachers monitoring children are key for children in order to avoid pornography in there life.

Conclusion:

If we have abused or irritated anyone by this article sorry.We taught its a great social problem which as to answered.For one's pleasure many girls forced into pornography and someone else earn money.Finally affecting only viewers mind and body only.We have to do something for stopping this American forced culture into our society.It's in hands of parents to protect children and future of nation. http://www.ytears.in/2012/05/internet-pornography-in-indiaa.html The rise of porn in India Beginning to hit the mainstream. BY SAMIRA SHACKLE PUBLISHED 08 AUGUST 2012 8:18 

A typical Bollywood sex scene. Photograph, Getty Images.

Bollywood films are hardly known for their explicit sex scenes. Although modern films are getting more suggestive, the classic trope is a couple about to kiss, before the camera cuts away to show a lotus flowering or a full moon.

This coyness is in keeping with India’s censorious attitude to sexuality. It is a conservative society where, in general, both men and women must wear modest clothing, and sex or relationships before marriage are prohibited. Bollywood actor described it as a “sexually repressed society” after the reaction to sex scenes in one of his films.

While images depicting sexual intercourse may be as old as civilisation (think cave paintings and the Kama Sutra), the modern porn industry with its financial interests, flashy stars, and increasingly extreme scenes, is certainly not something you would associate with India. But the country does have a long history of home grown porn, and thanks to the internet, it is beginning to hit the mainstream. In February, three ministers in the state of Karnataka were forced to resignafter they were caught watching porn on a mobile phone in the precincts of the Legislative Assembly. Although they denied it, with one claiming they were watching the rape of a girl at a “rave party” to prepare for an assembly discussion about the dangers of such parties, the incident caused widespread outrage. It also prompted a mainstream discussion of pornography, which despite its popular appeal, is frequently swept under the carpet. In India, it is legal to access pornographic material privately, but illegal to distribute or produce it. Because of this, the production of so-called “blue films” – generally softcore – is not openly discussed. That has not stopped the industry, traditionally based in southern states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala where censorship is more relaxed, from being worth an estimated one billion dollars. It is thought that the slang “blue film” originates from the use of blue sets and lighting to conceal the identities of the actors and ensure that they are safeguarded from social stigma. Indeed, public opinion about porn stars is very negative: they tend to be viewed as sex workers rather than actors, a serious slur in a culture which attaches such shame to sexuality.

However, there are signs that these attitudes may be changing. In 2011, Canadian-born Indian porn star Sunny Leone appeared on Bigg Boss, the equivalent to Big Brother. At that point, she’d been involved in the adult industry – including hardcore porn – for ten years. She initially refused to divulge her past, telling a housemate that she was a model and TV star in America. But outside, it was common knowledge. She gained 8,000 new followers on Twitter in two days, and complaints were lodged that the channel was promoting pornography by allowing her to appear. Leone has certainly benefitted financially: she says 80 per cent of her web traffic and 60 per cent of her "high six figures" revenue now comes from India. She has also defied expectations by making the transition to mainstream stardom. She has already appeared (with her clothes on) in a Bollywood film, with more in the pipeline.

While there are signs that women in the adult industry are increasingly willing to talk about what they do, there is, for the most part, a big stigma attached. Polite society in the west may frown on the adult industry but it is nothing on the total social exclusion and inability to live life that goes with dishonour or immorality in India. Leone did not grow up in India, instead arriving from America, already a big star. However, some truly home grown porn stars are emerging. Delhi-born Anjali Kara is a hardcore porn actress, now primarily based in Bangkok, who has spoken openly about her profession. In an interview, she said she will not return to India permanently: “Indians do not and will never understand what I am doing. In their eyes I am a prostitute and I should be ashamed of myself”. Although she said she is proud of what she does, she stressed that it is just acting: “I don’t drink, nor smoke and do not sleep around in my personal life. For me, sex is acting.” She added that “no Indian man will be able to accept me”. Finding a husband is of paramount importance in this society; it is notable that Kara has essentially chosen to exile herself from the country of her birth. She insists that she is happy with her choice, but it is not a choice that is compatible with living a happy life in India.

The illegality of making porn means that it is necessarily shrouded in secrecy. As with other hidden industries, it is sometimes funded by “black money” (like Bollywood before it) and tax evasion is rife. In certain areas, there are indeed close ties to prostitution. But the internet is changing the way that porn is consumed in India, bringing it to a mass market and making it more affordable and acceptable. Although internet searches are required by government to censor pornographic results, these blocks are easily circumvented by a tech-savvy populace.

According to India Today, Google Trends shows that searches for the word “porn” doubled between 2010 and 2012. And there is other evidence of its growing appeal too: One out of five mobile users in India wants adult content on his 3G-enabled phone, according to an 2011 IMRB Survey. Over 47 per cent students discuss porn every day, says a public school survey by Max Hospital in Delhi. Porn tops the list of cyber crimes in India, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Increased web connectivity has had the same impact on porn as it has in the west – a proliferation of amateur videos. While this is still a relatively new phenomenon in India, it is inevitably hitting profits in the blue film industry. Yet the potential for profit amongst such a huge population is huge - as some American porn companies recognised, when they urged the Indian government to change the law to allow them to open up offices there. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there has been no response.

After the three Karnataka ministers resigned, there was much hand-wringing about the negative impact of internet porn on society, but also some accusations that those willing to consume porn themselves but condemn it in other people were hypocritical. That conflicted attitude is evident in the words of Kara: she says she loves what she does but equally, cannot settle in the country where she is famous and has been disowned by her family.

Leone takes credit for the mainstreamising of porn, saying: "My presence on Bigg Boss has empowered a lot of people to be open about their sexuality.” She may have jumped the gun: this is clearly still a process in motion, and there is a debate to be had about whether porn is the best model for sexual liberation at all. Regardless of your views on that, it is clear that the Indian porn industry is resilient, spreading, and will not be stamped out by the censorship laws it is well used to resisting. http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/samira-shackle/2012/08/rise-porn-india

CYBER LAW & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY by Talwant Singh Addl. Distt. & Sessions Judge, Delhi [email protected]

Success in any field of human activity leads to crime that needs mechanisms to control it. Legal provisions should provide assurance to users, empowerment to law enforcement agencies and deterrence to criminals. The law is as stringent as its enforcement. Crime is no longer limited to space, time or a group of people. Cyber space creates moral, civil and criminal wrongs. It has now given a new way to express criminal tendencies. Back in 1990, less than 100,000 people were able to log on to the Internet worldwide. Now around 500 million people are hooked up to surf the net around the globe.

Until recently, many information technology (IT) professionals lacked awareness of and interest in the cyber crime phenomenon. In many cases, law enforcement officers have lacked the tools needed to tackle the problem; old laws didn’t quite fit the crimes being committed, new laws hadn’t quite caught up to the reality of what was happening, and there were few court precedents to look to for guidance. Furthermore, debates over privacy issues hampered the ability of enforcement agents to gather the evidence needed to prosecute these new cases. Finally, there was a certain amount of antipathy—or at the least, distrust— between the two most important players in any effective fight against cyber crime: law enforcement agencies and computer professionals. Yet close cooperation between the two is crucial if we are to control the cyber crime problem and make the Internet a safe “place” for its users. Law enforcement personnel understand the criminal mindset and know the basics of gathering evidence and bringing offenders to justice. IT personnel understand computers and networks, how they work, and how to track down information on them. Each has half of the key to defeating the cyber criminal. IT professionals need good definitions of cybercrime in order to know when (and what) to report to police, but law enforcement agencies must have statutory definitions of specific crimes in order to charge a criminal with an offense. The first step in specifically defining individual cybercrimes is to sort all the acts that can be considered cybercrimes into organized categories.

United Nations’ Definition of Cybercrime

Cybercrime spans not only state but national boundaries as well. Perhaps we should look to international organizations to provide a standard definition of the crime. At the Tenth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders, in a workshop devoted to the issues of crimes related to computer networks, cybercrime was broken into two categories and defined thus: a. Cybercrime in a narrow sense (computer crime): Any illegal behavior directed by means of electronic operations that targets the security of computer systems and the data processed by them. b. Cybercrime in a broader sense (computer-related crime): Any illegal behavior committed by means of, or in relation to, a computer system or network, including such crimes as illegal possession [and] offering or distributing information by means of a computer system or network.

Of course, these definitions are complicated by the fact that an act may be illegal in one nation but not in another.

There are more concrete examples, including i. Unauthorized access ii. Damage to computer data or programs iii. Computer sabotage iv. Unauthorized interception of communications v. Computer espionage

These definitions, although not completely definitive, do give us a good starting point—one that has some international recognition and agreement—for determining just what we mean by the term cybercrime.

In Indian law, cyber crime has to be voluntary and willful, an act or omission that adversely affects a person or property. The IT Act provides the backbone for e- commerce and India’s approach has been to look at e-governance and e- commerce primarily from the promotional aspects looking at the vast opportunities and the need to sensitize the population to the possibilities of the information age. There is the need to take in to consideration the security aspects.

In the present global situation where cyber control mechanisms are important we need to push cyber laws. Cyber Crimes are a new class of crimes to India rapidly expanding due to extensive use of internet. Getting the right lead and making the right interpretation are very important in solving a cyber crime. The 7 stage continuum of a criminal case starts from perpetration to registration to reporting, investigation, prosecution, adjudication and execution. The system can not be stronger than the weakest link in the chain. In India, there are 30 million policemen to train apart from 12,000 strong Judiciary.

Police in India are trying to become cyber crime savvy and hiring people who are trained in the area. Many police stations in Delhi have computers which will be soon connected to the Head Quarters. Cyber Police Stations are functioning in major Cities all over the Country. The pace of the investigations can become faster; judicial sensitivity and knowledge need to improve. Focus needs to be on educating the police and district judiciary. IT Institutions can also play a role in this area. We need to sensitize our investigators and judges to the nuances of the system. National judicial Academy at Bhopal (MP) and State Judicial Academies are also running short-term Cyber Courses for Judges but much more is needed to be done.

Technology nuances are important in a spam infested environment where privacy can be compromised and individuals can be subjected to become a victim unsuspectingly. Most cyber criminals have a counter part in the real world. If loss of property or persons is caused the criminal is punishable under the IPC also. Since the law enforcement agencies find it is easier to handle it under the IPC, IT Act cases are not getting reported and when reported are not necessarily dealt with under the IT Act. A lengthy and intensive process of learning is required.

A whole series of initiatives of cyber forensics were undertaken and cyber law procedures resulted out of it. This is an area where learning takes place every day as we are all beginners in this area. We are looking for solutions faster than the problems can get invented. We need to move faster than the criminals.

The real issue is how to prevent cyber crime. For this, there is need to raise the probability of apprehension and conviction. India has a law on evidence that considers admissibility, authenticity, accuracy, and completeness to convince the judiciary. The challenge in cyber crime cases includes getting evidence that will stand scrutiny in a foreign court. For this India needs total international cooperation with specialised agencies of different countries. Police has to ensure that they have seized exactly what was there at the scene of crime, is the same that has been analysed and the report presented in court is based on this evidence. It has to maintain the chain of custody. The threat is not from the intelligence of criminals but from our ignorance and the will to fight it. The law is stricter now on producing evidence especially where electronic documents are concerned.

The computer is the target and the tool for the perpetration of crime. It is used for the communication of the criminal activity such as the injection of a virus/worm which can crash entire networks. The Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, specifies the acts which have been made punishable. Since the primary objective of this Act is to create an enabling environment for commercial use of I.T., certain omissions and commissions of criminals while using computers have not been included. With the legal recognition of Electronic Records and the amendments made in the several sections of the IPC vide the IT Act, 2000, several offences having bearing on cyber-arena are also registered under the appropriate sections of the IPC.

As per the report of National Crime Records Bureau, in 2005, a total 179 cases were registered under IT Act 2000, of which about 50 percent (88 cases) were related to Obscene Publications / Transmission in electronic form, normally known as cyber pornography. 125 persons were arrested for committing such offences during 2005. There were 74 cases of Hacking of computer systems during the year wherein 41 persons were arrested. Out of the total (74) Hacking cases, those relating to Loss/Damage of computer resource/utility under Sec 66(1) of the IT Act were 44.6 percent (33 cases) whereas the cases related to Hacking under Section 66(2) of IT Act were 55.4 percent (41 cases). Tamil Nadu (15) and Delhi (4) registered maximum cases under Sec 66(1) of the IT Act out of total 33 such cases at the National level. Out of the total 41 cases relating to Hacking under Sec. 66(2), most of the cases (24 cases) were reported from Karnataka followed by Andhra Pradesh (9) and (8).

During the year, a total of 302 cases were registered under IPC Sections as compared to 279 such cases during 2004 thereby reporting an increase of 8.2 percent in 2005 over 2004. Gujarat reported maximum number of such cases, nearly 50.6 percent of total cases (153 out of 302) like in previous year 2004 followed by Andhra Pradesh 22.5 percent (68 cases). Out of total 302 cases registered under IPC, majority of the crimes fall under 2 categories viz. Criminal Breach of Trust or Fraud (186) and Counterfeiting of Currency/Stamps (59). Though, these offences fall under the traditional IPC crimes, the cases had the cyber tone wherein computer, Internet or its related aspects were present in the crime and hence they were categorised as Cyber Crimes under IPC. Out of the 53,625 cases reported under head Cheating during 2005, the Cyber Forgery (48 cases) accounted for 0.09 percent. The Cyber frauds (186) accounted for 1.4 percent out of the total Criminal Breach of Trust cases (13,572).

The Forgery (Cyber) cases were highest in Andhra Pradesh (28) followed by Punjab (12). The cases of Cyber Fraud were highest in Gujarat (118) followed by Punjab (28) and Andhra Pradesh (20). A total of 377 persons were arrested in the country for Cyber Crimes under IPC during 2005. Of these, 57.0 percent (215) of total such offenders (377) were taken into custody for offences under 'Criminal Breach of Trust/Fraud (Cyber)', 22.0 percent (83) for ‘Counterfeiting of Currency/Stamps’ and 18.8 percent (71) for offences under ‘Cyber Forgery’. The States such as Gujarat (159), Andhra Pradesh (110), Chhattisgarh and Punjab (51 each) have reported higher arrests for Cyber Crimes registered under IPC. Bangalore (38), Chennai (20) and Delhi (10) cities have reported high incidence of such cases (68 out of 94 cases) accounting for more than half of the cases (72.3%) reported under IT Act, 2000. Surat city has reported the highest incidence (146 out of 163 cases) of cases reported under IPC sections accounting for more than 89.6 percent.

The latest statistics show that cybercrime is actually on the rise. However, it is true that in India, cybercrime is not reported too much about. Consequently there is a false sense of complacency that cybercrime does not exist and that society is safe from cybercrime. This is not the correct picture. The fact is that people in our country do not report cybercrimes for many reasons. Many do not want to face harassment by the police. There is also the fear of bad publicity in the media, which could hurt their reputation and standing in society. Also, it becomes extremely difficult to convince the police to register any cybercrime, because of lack of orientation and awareness about cybercrimes and their registration and handling by the police.

A recent survey indicates that for every 500 cybercrime incidents that take place, only 50 are reported to the police and out of that only one is actually registered. These figures indicate how difficult it is to convince the police to register a cybercrime. The establishment of cybercrime cells in different parts of the country was expected to boost cybercrime reporting and prosecution. However, these cells haven’t quite kept up with expectations.

Netizens should not be under the impression that cybercrime is vanishing and they must realize that with each passing day, cyberspace becomes a more dangerous place to be in, where criminals roam freely to execute their criminals intentions encouraged by the so-called anonymity that internet provides.

The absolutely poor rate of cyber crime conviction in the country has also not helped the cause of regulating cybercrime. There has only been few cybercrime convictions in the whole country, which can be counted on fingers. We need to ensure that we have specialized procedures for prosecution of cybercrime cases so as to tackle them on a priority basis,. This is necessary so as to win the faith of the people in the ability of the system to tackle cybercrime. We must ensure that our system provides for stringent punishment of cybercrimes and cyber criminals so that the same acts as a deterrent for others.

Threat Perceptions

A survey released by the UK government has revealed that the British public is now more fearful of cybercrime than burglary and crimes against the person. According to its results, Internet users fear bankcard fraud the most (27 percent), followed by cybercrime (21 percent) and burglary (16 percent). This shows that hi-tech crime has firmly overtaken conventional burglaries, muggings and thefts in the list of the public’s fears, as the Internet has become firmly embedded into the British society, with some 57 percent of households having online access. Interestingly, University of Abertay in Dundee, Scotland (UK) is now offering a BSc Hons in Ethical Hacking and Countermeasures.

Cyber-Crime Update

An initiative has been taken to provide a much-awaited On-Line Library of Cyber Cases in India. It is updated regularily and provides the relevant law, regulations, cases and articles related to cyber law. The Library can be assessed at www.cybercases.blogspot.com .