Cyber Crimes in India: Which state tops the chart? - Factly
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 2, 2016
With increasing internet penetration, cyber crimes have also increased in the last few years. Between 2011 and 2015, the number of cyber crimes registered in the country has gone up 5 times. Maharashtra & Uttar Pradesh alone accounted for 1/3rd of these crimes.
With increasing mobile and internet penetration in the country, cyber crimes have also increased proportionately.  Between 2011 and 2015, more than 32000 cyber crimes were reported across the country. More than 24000 of these cases are registered under the IT Act and the remaining under the various sections of IPC and other State Level Legislations (SLL).
What are Cyber Crimes?
Cyber Crimes in India are registered under three broad heads, the IT Act, the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other State Level Legislations (SLL). The cases registered under the IT Act include
On the other hand, cases are also registered under the IPC and those include
Cyber Crimes up by more than 3 times in 5 years
The numbers of cases registered under the IT Act and IPC have been growing continuously. The cases registered under the IT act grew by more than 350% from 2011 to 2015. There was almost a 70% increase in the number of cyber crimes under the IT act between 2013 and 2014. The cases registered under the IPC increased by more than 7 times during the period between 2011 and 2015. Similar trend is observed in the number of persons arrested. The government also acknowledges the increase in the number of such crimes and that the introduction of technologies, devices including smart phones and complex applications, and rise in usage of cyber space for businesses has resulted in such an increase.
Maharashtra & Uttar Pradesh on the top
The list of states with the highest incidence of cyber crime for the period 2011 to 2015 throws no surprises. Maharashtra tops the list with more than 5900 cases in the 5 years followed by Uttar Pradesh with close to 5000 such cases. Karnataka is third with more than 3500 cases. The top states in this list are the ones with a greater internet subscriber base. The bottom 10 are relatively smaller states with lower population & lower internet penetration.
What is the Government Doing?
The government says that use of social media has also emerged as a key tool for committing cyber crimes and attacks that affect nation and society and is conscious of increase in cyber crimes. It has taken various steps in the form of awareness, training, legal framework, emergency response and implementation of best practices to prevent occurrence of such cyber crimes
In response to a question in the Lok Sabha, the government mentioned that the following measures are being taken to tackle cyber crimes.