The Author, K. Yugantara, a 5th year student from Sastra University, Tamil Nadu. She is currently interning with LatestLaws.com.
What is Cybercrime?
Cybercrime is an illegal activity relating to the computer, computer network or computer system, which requires technological knowledge for the commission, investigation, and prosecution. With the advancement in technology and widespread use of the internet, cyber crimes have become a major threat to society. The Information Technology Act, of 2000 is the legislation that deals with offenses related to such crimes. Some examples of cybercrimes are hacking, stalking, cyber terrorism, identity theft, etc.
How to register Cybercrime complaints?
In order to punish a person who is said to have committed an offence of cybercrime, the first and foremost step would be to lodge a complaint against that person. Cyber cells are constituted by the crime investigation team in various cities to investigate and spread awareness to prevent such crimes. Cybercrime, being covered under the ambit of global jurisdiction, is capable of being registered with any of the cybercrime cells in India, through an online or offline complaint, as per the convenience of the victim.
Offline method of filing the complaint:
Cybercrime offences come under the ambit of the Indian Penal Code. Thus, by virtue of Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure [1], a victim can lodge FIR with the nearest police station against any cybercrime. It mandates the police officer to record the complaint of the offence irrespective of the jurisdiction in which it was committed. Most cybercrimes are classified as cognizable offences under the Indian Penal Code, which implies that warrant is not necessary for an arrest or investigation of such offence. In such cases the police must forward the case to the police station under the jurisdiction of the place where the offence was committed, after recording a FIR, which ensures solace to the victims through immediate investigation on the case. The victim can even approach the Commissioner or City’s Judicial Magistrate in case their complaint has not been accepted in the police station. A written complaint with the Cybercrime cell can also be given, which requires the complainant to give information like their name, phone number, and the details of the incident.
Online method of filing the complaint:
A National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal [2] which is a component of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre has been established by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India which facilitates the complainants to report the offences. It has overstepped the conventional method of offline complaints.
The portal provides offences under two broad categories, namely- (1) Women/Children related crimes, which includes complaints pertaining to Child Pornography, Child Sexual Abuse Material and Sexually Explicit Content such as rape or Gang rape videos. (2) Other crimes include a plethora of offences such as social media crimes, online financial frauds, hacking, ransomware, etc.
Steps for filing an online complaint for women/child-related crimes:
The Portal allows the complainant to report the crime anonymously, i.e., without disclosing any personal information of the victim. This is in order to ensure that the victim’s identity and privacy is being protected. The following steps are to be followed in order to file such a complaint.
Step 1: It requires the complainant to give incidental details like the category of complaint, date and time of the incident, the district where the victim is residing, the place of occurrence of the incident (i.e., the platform of the incident, like Facebook, Instagram, etc), uploading of evidence, and additional details of the incident which the complainant feels necessary to include in the complaint which will be of some use for the investigating agency.
Step 2: This step requires the complainant to give suspect details like the name of the suspect and his identity (i.e., mobile number, Pan Card, etc).
Step 3: After filling all the details, the complainant can save and submit the copy. A PDF of the complaint will be available on the portal as soon as he submits the complaint.
The Portal also allows these types of crimes to be registered by giving all the legit information of the complainant if they choose to disclose their information. The complainant has to choose the option of “report and track” on the portal and register themselves with their name and valid mobile number. The abovementioned process is to be followed, but additionally, the complainant's details are also required. After registering the complaint, one can track the process of the investigation using their complaint ID.
Steps for filing an online complaint for other crimes:
Step 1: A complainant can report such types of crimes on the portal by registering themselves with a name and valid phone number.
Step 2: A One Time Password (OTP) will be sent to the registered mobile number, which will be valid for a period of 30 minutes. By entering the OTP, the complaint can be registered.
Step 3: The complainant has to provide incidental details like date and time of the incident, the place of occurrence and upload evidence. He may also provide additional information necessary or related to the incident.
Step 4: Further, he has to provide suspect details like the suspect’s name, address, and his identity details like driving license, mobile number, PAN Card, etc.
Step 5: The complainant’s details like gender, date of birth, details of the family member, email ID, and address need to be provided.
Step 6: After filling in all the details, the complainant can save and submit the copy. A PDF of the complaint will be available on the portal as soon as he submits the complaint.
What are the documents required for filing a cybercrime complaint?
For email-based complaints: Written complaint of the offence in detail, copy, the header of the alleged email in both soft copy and hard copy.
For social media-based complaints: Any offence alleged to have been committed on social media platforms like Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc., the screenshot or URL of the content in both hard and soft copies.
For mobile application-based complaints: The screenshot of the alleged application, the location of where it was being downloaded, victim’s bank statement if necessary.
For data theft complaints: The copy of the stolen data, copyright certificate, details of any suspected employees, etc., is necessary.
Investigation of the Cybercrimes
A cybercrime investigation requires a certain skill and scientific tool, without which an investigation cannot be conducted. To meet the requirements of Cybercrime investigations, certain amendments have been made in the Indian Evidence Act, Code of Criminal Procedure for the implementation of new regulations. According to Section 78 of the Information technology Act, 2000, [3] an investigation for offences falling under the act can be carried out by any police officer not below the rank of Inspector. Once the complaint is filed in the manner as stated above, the investigation cells will start with the search and seizure of the suspected persons and the digital evidence which constitutes the intangible data, as stated in Section 80(1) of the IT Act, [4]. Technical experts’ advice can be obtained whenever there is a necessity. Precaution needs to be exercised while dismantling the network so that no important data is lost.
REFERENCES:
[1] Section 154 CrPC, Information in cognizable cases (FIR).
[2] https://cybercrime.gov.in/Accept.aspx
[3] Section 78.- Power to investigate offences. -Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), a police officer not below the rank of [Inspector] shall investigate any offence under this Act.
[4] Section 80.- Power of police officer and other officers to enter, search, etc.-
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), any police officer, not below the rank of a Deputy Superintendent of Police, or any other officer of the Central Government or a State Government authorised by the Central Government in this behalf may enter any public place and search and arrest without warrant any person found therein who is reasonably suspected of having committed or of committing or of being about to commit any offence under this Act.
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