Cyber crime cases: Zero conviction in Karnataka

If you are a cyber crime victim, chances of your attacker getting a jail term is very less in India, especially in Karnataka where not a single case that went to trial in 2017 saw a conviction.

The latest government statistics show that only 22.60% of cyber crime cases end up in conviction across the country while 94.60% of the 13,941 cases that went before the judges remained pending at the end of 2017.

Investigators and experts put this dismal figure on the lack of expertise in collecting evidence in the cyber space even as the government is now putting more money for bolstering the investigating capabilities of police personnel.

Altogether, 21,796 cyber crimes were reported in 2017 alone - Uttar Pradesh topping the list with 4,971 cases followed by Maharashtra (3,604) and Karnataka (3,174). The year 2017 saw a 76.96% increase in cyber crimes from 2016 when 12,317 cases were reported while 2015 saw 11,592 such incidents.

In 2017, a total of 13,941 cases, including 8,761 pending from 2016, were in courts in different stages of trial.

Of this, the National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) Crime in India 2017 report said, only 674 cases were disposed of in which conviction happened in only 152 cases and there were acquittals in 500 cases. Accused were exonerated in 22 cases.

Trial in 39 out of 654 cases in Karnataka were completed but not a single person was convicted. Fifty-five men and five women were acquitted in these cases. In 2017, 294 out of 11,601 persons arrested in cyber crimes were from Karnataka while the maximum number of arrests took place in Uttar Pradesh 2,726.

When it comes to investigations, police across the country had 36,629 cases to investigate in 2017, which also included 14,831 cases that were pending in the previous year. Of this, it could complete probe in only 13,996 leaving the rest 22,608 (61.7%) pending at the end of 2017.

Karnataka had 4,628 cases for investigations of which it completed probe in 1,542 cases and filed chargesheet in just 130 cases.

An analysis of motives show that "fraud" tops the list with 12,213 cases in 2017. As many as 3,450 such cases were registered in Uttar Pradesh followed by Karnataka (2,764) and Maharashtra (2,171).

It also showed that 4,242 cyber crime cases were against women, including the toppers Maharashtra (1,119) and Karnataka (729). Eighty-eight cases where children were victims were also reported in 2017 in which Karnataka had not a single case.