Web portal for complaints of cyber crimes, online frauds to be launched soon

The Home Ministry will soon launch a web portal on which people can lodge complaints over online abuse, cyber crimes such as financial frauds and circulation of communal and pornographic content, officials said. The portal will allow people to register complaints, post videos and other online content so that the law enforcement agencies can verify and take action against the offenders as per law, a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) official said. The online platform is expected to be operationalised later this month.

As per the rules framed, the nearest police station, where the complainant resides, will register the complaint or the FIR, ending jurisdictional issues. Plans are afoot to give access to banks on the portal to address cases of fraudulent transactions online, the official said. The portal is being readied following a direction by a Supreme Court-appointed committee to check the circulation of child pornography and sexual violence videos on the internet, another official said.

In December, the apex court had asked the central government to set up a cell within the Central Bureau of Investigation or the Ministry of Home Affairs to report and take down such videos and messages. Though the apex court had framed guidelines to set up a centralised portal for reporting of complaints against child pornography and rape videos, the portal will also register complaints from victims of online abuse, cyber frauds and other financial frauds.

Several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kerala, have already come on board and discussions are on with other states too, the official said. As many as 1,44,496 cyber security attacks took place in the country during 2014-16. National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) states that 5,693, 9,622 and 11,592 cyber crime cases were registered during 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively, showing a rise of 69 per cent during 2013 to 2014 and 20 per cent increase during 2014 to 2015

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