Bhopal: MP to have first cyber sakhis in Harda; to fight as warriors against faceless

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): In the backdrop of a sharp rise in cyber crimes across the country in the past few years, Madhya Pradesh will have its first cyber sakhis in Harda district who will not only fight against cyber criminals but also educate others as master trainers on how to shield oneself against faceless criminals who may be operating from any part of the country or world, as per officials.

As many as 1480 girls and women including Rewa (another name of river Narmada) sakhis and Anganwadi workers living in rural part of Harda would be trained by State Cyber police headquarters and CSA survivor Pooja Bajaj virtually on May 4 with an initiative taken by the district administration, Harda, SP, Cyber crime, Vaibhav Srivastav said.

He said, the training would begin with a speech by state cyber police additional director general (ADG) Yogesh Deshmukh and collector and SP, Harda Rishi Garg and Manish Agrawal.

“So far state cyber police reached out to people virtually or visiting various areas of the state to educate people from various fields on do’s and don’ts but this is the first time state cyber police is going to train private persons and make them master trainers”, said the SP.

Harda Collector, Rishi Garg said, “When I assumed office in Harda I wanted to do something innovative. I saw here an alarming number of cyber crimes with girls and women being the victims. I thought why not empower women with such training as we celebrate ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’.”

Garg said in Harda district two girls were made Rewa Sakhis from each village who had been working for the past two years in prevention of crime against girl/women, child marriage, malnutrition etc.

He said these master trainers would prevent the increasing effect of cyber crime when the evils of the internet were increasing very fast from village to village and even children were getting affected. Girls were blackmailed by converting their photos from WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and other networking sites.

SP, Cyber crime, Vaibhav Srivastav said, “Prevention is better than cure. I hope more and more districts will take such an initiative. If cyber crimes are curbed, there will be less stress on the department, prosecution as well as judiciary.”