‘Political motives behind Assam’s cybercrimes’

GUWAHATI: Assam saw the maximum cybercrime cases committed with a politically-driven motive last year, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The state also witnessed the most cybercrimes committed with the intention of sexual exploitation and seeking personal revenge during the same period.

Assam, which reported the fifth highest number of cybercrime cases last year, is the only state to have crossed the 100-mark in similar crimes for political motives. Telangana, which tops the list of cybercrimes, has reported just 17 such cases with political motives.
The remaining states, with the exception of Uttar Pradesh (64 cases), have recorded less than 50 cases.
As far as cases of cybercrimes committed with the motive of sexual exploitation are concerned, there is a wide gap of more than 1,100 cases between Assam and Telangana. While 1,147 such cases were reported in the northeastern state, only 87 such cases were reported in Telangana.
As for cybercrimes committed with the motive of personal revenge, Assam has recorded almost half of the total cases of the country. More than 800 out of 1,700 cases were reported in the state followed by 485 cases in Telangana. Except Bihar (51 cases), the remaining states have recorded less than 50 such cases.
The NCRB report revealed a continuous increase in the overall cybercrimes in Assam for the last three years even though the police department has been relentlessly fighting against the menace. The state has recorded a rise of more than 37% last year from 2020 and by 58% in 2020 from 2019.
Out of 92 cybercrime cases in which trials have been completed, two accused were convicted in two cases, two were discharged in two cases and 149 people were acquitted in 88 cases by various courts in the state. The conviction rate is just over 2% against the national average of over 42%. Trials in 1600 cases are yet to be completed.