Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): In one year cyber crime against women and children had increased 350% in the state, said the officials. In the year 2023, the cyber criminals have uploaded child pornography and obscene and morphed photographs of women on the internet.
ADG Cyber Crime, Yogesh Deshmukh told Free Press that in 2023, the number of complaints pertaining to cyber crime against women and children is around 2.90 lakh. In 2022, around 80,000 complaints were registered, there is a huge jump in cyber crime in the state.
He informed that the Cyber crime against women includes gender-based and sexual remarks and activities performed through a computer network or mobile phones, affecting the dignity of women and causing emotional distress.
With the help of the district force and other organisations the cyber awareness programmes are being run in the state. In these programmes the information about the ‘types of crime and their preventions’ are taught.
Against women...
The ADG Cyber Crime, Yogesh Deshmukh said that different types of cyber crime against women include Cyber Stalking, Cyber Defamation, Cyber Hacking, Cyber Bullying, Pornography, Cyber Grooming
Cyber Stalking: This includes attempting to contact women via social networking sites without any legitimate purpose, putting threatening messages on the chat page, and constantly disturbing the victims with objectionable emails and messages to create mental distress.
Cyber defamation: This activity involves defaming the victim through blackmailing and disclosing their details or modified pictures. It often involves extorting and seeking sexual favors from the victim.
Cyber Hacking: When asked to click on unauthorised URLs or download apps that leak all their personal information on their phones, the women became victims of cyber hacking.
Cyber Bullying, It is an act of regular harassment and bullying of the victim through the digital communication device by posting abusive and misleading content, pictures, or videos and sending rape and death threats.
Pornography, This criminal activity involves posting morphed images of victims and using them for pornographic purposes, sometimes demanding money to remove them from social networking sites.
Cyber Grooming, In this case, a person builds a relationship with a woman through an online platform and pressurizes her for undue favors or doing sexual acts.
Against Children...
The ADG informed that the cyber criminals are engage in online child abuse, besides child exploitation, cyber bullying, child pornography, exposure to harmful content, and many more crimes against children are committed online. He added that, it has been observed that young children or teenagers are the primary and easy targets for criminal activity as they are trusting, naive, adventurous, and eager for attention and affection.
For instance, the predator might approach a young individual online and form an online friendship based on the same likes, interests, and activities. Gifts and photos could be exchanged as a result of this they fall into a trap.
