HYDERABAD: Keeping in view the meagre conviction rate in cases of cybercrime, Hyderabad-based Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA) has introduced a new programme on the issue for trainee Indian Police Service (IPS) probationary officers as well as judges, other judicial officials and public prosecutors.
This is the first time that SVPNPA will be providing special training to judges on cybercrime. From September, the academy is all set to conduct the special training sessions for judicial officers in practical and theory session. Several cases of cyber crimes — including cases of online lottery, mobile data theft, credit/debit card fraud and OTP offences — are being registered regularly in the city.
However, even though thousands of complaints have been lodged with police on cyber crimes, the conviction rate is very low in Telangana. Sample this: in 2017, only two cases of cybercrime in the city ended in conviction.
Sources told Express that the aim of this programme was primarily to equip judicial officers and public prosecutors with basic understanding of cybercrime, evidences associated with various types of cyber crimes, and legal provisions related to them.
“The objective of the programme is to provide a clear picture of various types of cyber crimes, associated technological elements and their helpfulness in solving cyber crimes to examine correctness of the chain of custody of evidence,” said an official of SVPNPA. He further said, “It will also help judges in identifying relevance of intermediaries and their legal obligations, evaluating the relevance of presented evidences and applying the right legal provisions to electronic evidences to confirm their tenability.”
Director of SVPNPA, Aruna Bahuguna, felt the need of the course following an increase in cyber crime offences. “Dealing with cyber crime cases before court during a legal trial is difficult when compared to other offenses.” “When judges and public prosecutors have knowledge on such offences, it will help police in getting more convictions based on digital evidences,’’ said a faculty member of SVPNPA.