By OUR STAFF REPORTER
DEHRADUN, 30 Mar: “With technological advancement, on one side we are facilitated while on the other we become more vulnerable to frauds. Children become more susceptible on becoming the victims, therefore mothers’ role becomes more important to make their children aware of cyber crimes,” said Radha Raturi, Additional Chief Secretary while inaugurating a one-day Seminar on “Cyber Crimes and Women – Understanding the Laws and Strategies which safeguard women in this Arena,” being organized by Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra with the financial support of National Commission For Women, Government of India. The seminar was attended by more than 100 women coming from all walks of life which included social workers, college going girls, municipal councilors, women running small home businesses etc.
The day-long seminar was organized to bring awareness on the increasing cyber crimes that are emerging as a new form of crime against women; women being the most vulnerable in the cyber world, how they can protect themselves and report such crimes. The seminar discussed latest issues in the cyber world with focus on women, their rights and Cyber police/ cyber cell in Uttarakhand; issues with regard to laws which protect women from cyber-crimes and how to bridge the gap and developing an action plan for addressing cyber crimes against women– reflecting the voices of women; understanding laws which protect and safeguard women in the virtual world/ cyber world and strategies that can be framed to combat cyber-crimes against women in details.
Nirmal Bhatt, Sub-Inspector, Cyber Crime Police while discussing the challenges, security, safety and privacy of women informed the gathering that, “Prevention is better than cure. It is important that we do not share our sensitive information be it passwords, OTPs or our pictures. Also we should use a good Anti-virus software.” She further shared that, “Besides FIR we can as a third party, without getting into any police procedures, get the malicious videos removed which are harming the dignity of women and children. The website which every citizen should know for reporting such videos is www.cybercrime.gov.in”.
Ved Prakash Thapliyal, Sub-Inspector, Cyber Crime Police elucidated about the social media in detail. He elucidated on different types of crimes such as Hacking, Denial of Service attack, Virus dissemination, Software piracy, Pornography, IRC Crime, Credit Card fraud, Net extortion, Phishing, Spoofing, Cyber stalking etc. He stressed that one should be very careful while using mobile phones and not keep sensitive data in it. Social media sites and other apps steal your data so you should be very careful while giving permissions. Anything on internet will never remain private.
Avnish Bhatt, Faculty, ICFAI Law School, discussed various laws such as Indian Penal Code 1860,Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 (Circulation of material containing indecent representation of women), Indian Telegraph Act, 1885; IT Act 2000 etc. He further added that though we have laws but still there are problems like many women do not register complaints because of the lengthy procedure and further due to fear of disclosing her identity. Woman and child cyber harassment and related cyber-crimes remain overwhelmingly underreported etc.
Kusum Ghildiyal, Director SEAD talked on “Implementation issues with regard to laws which protect women from cyber-crimes and how to bridge the gap and developing an action plan for addressing cyber crimes against women– reflecting the voices of women.”
Dr. Jitendra Tiwari, Director JSS, discussed the Action Plan to be followed by women in case of Cyber Crime and Recommendations put forth during the day-long seminar. “There should be more awareness drives to spread the knowledge of Cyber Crimes; Cyber Legal Volunteers should be made. Also SHGs should be made aware on this issue so that they can assist fellow villagers, Parents should keep a check on children etc.”
Avdhash Kaushal, ChairpersonRLEK said, “In India, the problem gains more seriousness as information technology used is widespread but awareness about cyber laws is low. Laws exist but unawareness about these laws further victimizes the victim. Due to our social structure women do not come out and report such crimes and suffer in silence, therefore more such initiatives of conducting awareness campaigns or seminars should be conducted so that no one falls prey to these frauds”.
Women clarified their doubts on safety of using apps like PayTM. Some wanted to know how much safe is using debit/ credit cards in malls etc. Women became aware of the threats behind the use of social media and related gadgets. They were motivated to share the gained knowledge with others as well.
