Notable decrease in cyber cases in state

The Kerala police have reasons to cheer, with the number of cyber cases recording a drastic fall across the state in 2012. According to data from the Hi-tech Crime Enquiry Cell, the number of cyber crimes in all the districts have come down by more than 60 per cent in 2012, compared to 2011.

In 2012, 30,706 cases were registered by cyber cells across the state. The figure for 2011 was 73,605 and for 2010, 69,970.

Notably, the number of cyber cases reported in the city has gone down by 70 per cent, compared to previous years. However, cyber cases reported in Thiruvananthapuram city rose by more than 60 per cent.

In 2011, 2,428 cyber cases were reported in Thiruvananthapuram and the number rose to 3,896 in 2012. In Kochi, as many as 9,769 cases were registered in 2011, and the number came down to 3,573 in 2012. In Kozhikode, around 2,308 cases were registered in 2012 and 2,791 in 2011.

A major fall in the number of cyber cases was   reported in Kollam city, with the figures dipping to 137 in 2012 from 2,523 in 2011.

A total of 580 cases in the Thiruvananthapuram rural region, 288 cases in the Kollam rural region, 2,088 cases in Alappuzha, 1,527 in  Pathanamthitta, 412 in Idduki, 1,700 in the  Ernakulam rural area and 1,053 in Thrissur city were reported. A total of 708 cases were reported in the Thrissur rural region, 1,586 in Malappuram, 1,649 in Palakkad, 2,308 in Kozhikode city, 1,513 in the Kozhikode rural region, 813 in Waynad, 1,009 in Kannur and 1,448 in Kasargod. The Hi-tech Crime Enquiry Cell investigated 2,887 cases in 2012.

The crimes reported in the context of social networking sites have almost doubled with 185 cases registered in 2012, as compared to 94 in 2011. However, crimes like email abuse, email threatening, hacking, online scams, web-related scams and phone abuse cases have come down in 2012.

N Vinayakumaran Nair, Assistant Commissioner, Hi-tech Crime Enquiry Cell, said that the figures indicate that people in the state have started using the Internet in a responsible manner.

 “The awareness programmes are  successful to a large extent and people have a better sense about such crimes. Our awareness programmes will continue. Cases involving social networking sites are increasing because more people are beginning to use such platforms. We are looking to reduce such crimes too,” said Vinayakumaran Nair.