HC seeks report on training module & infra of cyber crime police stations

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday called for a report from the state’s Director General of Police highlighting the kind of training being provided to cyber crime sleuths and the infrastructure available for probing such crimes.

The bench of Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Gaurang Kanth was hearing a case where a woman’s indecent photos were allegedly uploaded in social media in a case relating to a rape case. The court was irked with the police officer for not adding Section 67 of IT Act and instead registering the FIR under other provisions of law. It was learnt that the accused also got bail in the matter.

The court asked if the police matched the IMEI number of the mobile device and the IPS address. With the police officer claiming that the accused could not be found for doing the same, the court asked how an accused who is out on bail cannot be found. The court observed the accused was not summoned by the police for interrogation after bail. The court asked how can a cyber-crime police station (Krishnagar Police District) function in this manner.

The court said in a cyber-crime detection arrest is irrelevant and the police needs custody of the devices and perform the analysis on them. Justice Bagchi remarked that times have changed, yet the state’s police still rely on outdated methods and are ill equipped in probing cyber-crimes. The court criticised how cyber crime stations are functioning like ordinary police stations.

HC summoned a report from the state’s Director General of Police highlighting the kind of training provided to the officers and the infrastructure available. A detailed report needs to be submitted within two weeks. Additionally, the police have been instructed to collect the accused’s mobile phone, extract information from it and submit a report.