Chhattisgarh High Court: The Division Bench of Ramesh Sinha, CJ. and Rajani Dubey, J., opined that cybercrimes and frauds were increasing day by day and a huge amount of money was being siphoned by the thugs and criminals from the bank accounts of innocent people. Further, for all the police stations falling under the Bilaspur range, there was only one Cyber Police Station at Bilaspur and that too did not have proper paraphernalia and lacked experts who might investigate the matter promptly and efficiently. The Court opined that this issue needed immediate attention of the State, and thus directed Director General of Police, Raipur, Chhattisgarh to file his personal affidavit in the present matter where cognizance had been taken by this Court based on the news item regarding lack of experts in the Cyber Police Station for curbing the cybercrime.
The Court registered the present suo motu PIL on the basis of news report published in ‘Bilaspur Bhaskar’ on 24-04-2024, wherein it was stated that the Cyber Police Station had registered only seven cases during the period of seven months because the police station lacked experts in the field and further, for the last three months, not a single FIR had been registered relating to cybercrime. The news report further stated that in Bilaspur District in the last six years, an amount of Rs. 4.82 crores had been defrauded from 775 persons. The Court opined that cybercrimes and frauds were increasing day by day and a huge amount of money was being siphoned by the thugs and criminals from the bank accounts of innocent people.
The Court opined that for all the police stations falling under the Bilaspur range, there was only one Cyber Police Station at Bilaspur and that too did not have proper paraphernalia and lacked experts who might investigate the matter promptly and efficiently as only three Inspectors of the cyber cadre were available in the entire State. The Court opined that it was highly disturbing and a matter of great concern that the people were being misled, allured and deceived by the persons using digital technology and electronic devices which come under the category of cybercrime. However, there was lack of sufficient staff and experts at the Cyber Police Stations to curb the same.
The Court opined that this issue needed immediate attention of the State, and thus directed Director General of Police, Raipur, Chhattisgarh to file his personal affidavit in the present matter where cognizance had been taken by this Court on the basis of the aforesaid news item regarding lack of experts in the Cyber Police Station for curbing the cybercrime.
The matter would next be listed on 09-05-2024.
[Suo Motu PIL regarding lack of experts in range cyber police stations v. State of Chhattisgarh, 2024 SCC OnLine Chh 3458, Order dated 24-04-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Respondent: Y.S. Thakur, Additional Advocate General.
