Cops grope for conmen on the Net

Case I: Rajesh (21), from central Kolkata, was arrested on charges of sending obscene pictures via e-mail of known girls in the area, fabricated by computer-morphing.
Case II: Suresh Saxena was illegally chatting on the web using the name of Rupali Chaudhury. He distributed Rupali''s telephone number, inviting people to chat with her on the phone. Rupali kept getting obscene calls. Suresh was arrested. A defamation suit was filed against Rajesh, while Rupali withdrew her complaint against Suresh.
This indicates a trend: Conmen on the Net are becoming increasingly innovative in their modus operandi. And the Indian cyber laws are not equipped to bring these criminals to book.
Meanwhile, India has seen the beginning of cyber damage litigation by way of compensation. M/s Antares Systems Ltd has filed a case against C1 India Pvt Ltd and four others seeking damages to the tune of Rs 25 lakh on the ground that C1 Pvt Ltd, after sharing the user ID and password of an e-tender product developed by it and jointly bidding for an Andhra Pradesh government project, dumped the complainant. Filed in 2002, this is the only cyber-crime litigation.
"Cyber crime is on the rise, which is proved by the findings of a recent study, Project India Cracked. It reveals that between February 2000 and December 2002, government and corporate websites in the country were hacked 780 times," informed cyber-law expert Pavan Duggal.
"Though cyber crime is on the rise here, people in Kolkata are not much aware that there are laws to deal with this. So,we don''t get many complains," said Soumen Mitra, DC DD(I), Kolkata Police. And loopholes in Indian cyber laws leave cops groping for criminals.
"We face difficulties when a cyber crime is committed outside our geographical jurisdiction. We received a complaint from a woman who was receiving obscene e-mails. Since it was done from a host based in Australia,we faced difficulties handling it," said a police official.
Dipankar Mukherjee, a city-based lawyer specialising in cyber laws said, "Cyber laws should be made more people-friendly and what is needed is more awareness."