A day after dissolving the Jammu and Kashmir State Assembly, Governor Satyapal Malik said that he did not want the formation of a government by the ‘unholy alliance’.
“These are the forces that are against democracy at the grass root level. Once they felt that situation was slipping out of their hands they formed an unholy alliance to form the Government,” Malik told agencies.
Refuting allegations of favouring the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre, Malik said, “I am not on the side of any party. I am with the people in the Valley and want good for them.”
On Wednesday, arch rivals PDP, NC along with Congress confirmed that they stitched up an alliance to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir, which had been under Governor’s Rule since June when the BJP ended its ruling alliance with the PDP.
Hours later, the Governor dissolved the Assembly. PDP president and former Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, said that she tried to fax the letter to the Governor, claiming to form the government, but couldn’t.
BJP-backed People’s Conference Chief Sajjad Lone also staked claim to form the government but he also failed to get through the Governor’s fax.
In response to Mufti, Governor Malik said that his decision to dissolve the Assembly was in the interest of the State.
“I have been receiving complaints for past 15 days of horse-trading and that Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) are being threatened. Mehbooba Ji herself complained that her MLAs are being threatened. The other party said there is planning of distribution of money. I could not have allowed this to happen,” he said.
“I have been saying it since day one of my appointment as Governor that I am not in favour of any govt formed in the state with underhand defection and horse trading. I would instead want that elections are held and selected government rules the state,” the Governor added.
The officials reveal an increase in the cyber crime cases compared to the last year in Maharashtra. Even after various attempts made by the state government to provide the cyber police stations with modern software and hardware technology tools and imparted training to police officials, cybersecurity has become an issue of concern in today’s era considering the use of social media scaling up rapidly imposing a major challenge for the police.
A written application filed by the Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis in the state Assembly on Tuesday stated that a total of 2,945 cases of cyber crimes were registered till September this year against 2,645 till October 2017; however, the maximum number of crime rates were witnessed in Mumbai.
Earlier, various queries had been raised regarding the technological offences in the metropolis that the police department and state government lacked a clear roadmap to make Mumbai safe from cyber crimes such as the police department is ill-equipped to resolve technology related crimes due to shortage of manpower or the police personnel lack technological knowledge to overcome such issues. In order to curb the cyber crime, training to 198 police officials have been imparted on how to deal with cyber crimes with modern software and hardware technology tools since 2016. Further, so far, 43 cyber labs have been declared as cyber police stations. Of these, 36 cyber police stations are functioning and the remaining seven will be operational soon, CM Fadnavis had said. Despite which the numbers suggest a huge increment in the ratio of the crime rate in the city. Now, lodging complaints have also become a lot more easier. Every city police station will have a separate cyber crime and complaint regarding the same can be filed even at the local police station.
Cyber Crime Advocate Puneet Bhasin stated, “Many reasons are there behind our inability to curb cyber crimes but lack of awareness tops the chart. Technology has entered the Indian market but people are not aware enough about its usage. Security is never a criterion here when it comes to selecting electronics with high-end technology and data security, though there are better and secure technology options but people prefer cheap options without being concerned about data security as India being a price sensitive market. Creating awareness is the only way we can put a stop to cyber crime.”
It is believed that due to social media, now it has become more easily accessible and safer bet to explore the prospective customers and lure the innocent girls into those murky professions. The Modi government’s vision to make a Digitial India seems to have various loopholes with the cyber frauds such as people getting cheated via fraudulent online transactions, fake online job sites, online matrimonial or dating sites and apps take place every now and then across the nation.
IT professional Rahul Pal mentioned, “I believe that the government must be aware first before making the people aware of cyber crime. The online world is filled with fraudsters and these happen in all open but it seems that the administration has closed their eyes. What about new online games that take the lives of young people! Why can’t we choke the very source of all these? With developing technology, it’s high time we stop neglecting and go serious on all these.”
From spreading the fake news to recruiting criminals and ultimately spreading terror, the social networking sites have been constantly spoon-feeding filth to their users. The ill-use of social media platform has seen an acute rise in the recent period of time. Hence, there is a need for awareness among the citizens to diminish crime rates. But the question still remains how will the government manage to cease the existing rise in crime rates and when will the state observe a cyberfraud-free place?
Cyber Lawyer and Cybersecurity Expert Prashant Mali exclaimed, “Efforts taken by the state government to curb cyber crime is insufficient and the same applies for the training of the police personnel. The cyber crime police stations in Mumbai are almost non-functional — they don’t take FIRs and pass on the complaints from one station to another. Moreover, the police stations are not well-equipped to take actions against the FIRs.”
He further added, “Mumbai being the financial capital, fraudsters across the country target this region making it high in crime rates. Lack of awareness among senior citizens and technologically-challenged also pose a threat. Social media crimes —like defamation, data theft, matrimonial frauds, cyber stalking, etc — have increased manifolds in the last decade. I feel rather than training police officers, the government must think on employing IT Experts cadre in the cyber booths for better results.”
Maharashtra Police and the government are making every effort to address cyber crime related complaints. Lodging complaints relating to cyber crimes will be a lot easier now. One has to simply walk into the nearest police station to lodge a complaint regarding bank card fraud or hacking for instance. Every city police station has a separate cyber crime cell. Earlier, everyone had to rush at a lone cyber crime police station at Bandra-Kurla Complex. Anyway, this sounds very interesting but the reality is not that comfortable. To improve cyber detection and to improve conviction rate, the police department has put up a proposal to the state government to set up a separate cyber court, but unfortunately the interpreters of law are not cyber crime experts; so, how the crime happened, which method, from which IP and type of attack to forensics of it, would be a new challenge for the lawyer and the judge both. The move to have a cyber crime cell at each police station was initiated by police due to the rise in the number of white collar crimes and a shortage of staff at the only cyber police station, but the irony is that the staffs are not well updated or trained. That is the reason that the cyber crime is not easily detected.
Ours is the country where 75 per cent of infrastructure is gone online, the next war would be cyber war and we need to be prepared for it or else India can stall back to ten years if we get cyberspace attacked. We need to be worried about the sharp rise in the number of cyber crime cases in the state and law enforcement agencies’ inability to bring the crooks to book. The government drafted a plan to deploy nearly 1,000 sub-inspectors to tackle cyber crime. But for that, the police needs additional manpower. Looking at the geographical conditions of state and especially Mumbai, there is a scarcity of police personnel. The police department needs manpower and infrastructure. Police personnel are not provided with adequate training and there is a need for information technology experts to halt cyber crime. Then Congress and now BJP are on the same path, they both just made announcements but never worked on the issues. Currently, a senior police inspector has the power to take action under the IT Act. Constables are just not aware of the subject itself.
The Maharashtra CM asked the police to increase monitoring of the social media; special squads dedicated to investigate cyber crimes were supposed to be operational in each of the 93 police stations in Mumbai. These cyber squads aim to take the load off the existing two cyber police stations, as well as allowing citizens to lodge cyber crime complaints at the closest police station. Fadnavis said that social media labs had to be better equipped to increase their efficiency. He added that acquisition of advanced monitoring systems would be funded. The government is also in the process of identifying tech-savvy officers across the city for our cyber squads, but since ages, this never-ending search is on. At present, cyber crime cases are largely probed by the Cyber Police Station in Bandra-Kurla Complex and the Cyber Crime Investigation Cell located in Crawford Market, which are specially equipped to probe cyber crimes. At present, police stations are dependent on help from cyber police stations and the cybercrime investigation cells that provide technical assistance. They are not self-sufficient to deal with the issues on their own capacity.
Cyber crime has become a big menace not just in the state, but also across the country. The state was earlier planning to rope in Nasscom to set up a ‘Cyber Force’ comprising 1,000 qualified professionals, who will be posted in cyber crime labs at the district level. This trained personnel will help the cops crack crimes in the world of internet and ensure the conviction of the criminals. To ensure gathering of evidence in a scientific manner, the government needs to set up a network of mobile forensic labs at every police commissionerate. But nothing yet happens, all these promises remained in files and police force is not capable of dealing with virtual crime.
With increasing use of information technology (IT) enabled services such as e-governance, online business, and electronic transactions, protection of personal and sensitive data have assumed paramount importance. It’s high time this government should act swiftly towards improvising cyber crime cell and secure people from cyber crime.
Rising at an alarming rate, the number of cyber crimes in the country may double in the coming years and could pose serious economic and national security challenges. The increasing use of smartphones and tablets for online banking and other financial transactions have increased risks. India has emerged as a favourite among cyber criminals, mostly hackers and other malicious users who use the internet to commit crimes such as identity theft, spamming, phishing and other types of fraud. As per the study’s findings, a total number of cyber crimes registered during 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 stood at 13,301, 22,060, 71,780 and 1,49,254 respectively.
Cybersecurity is a “Cat and Mouse” game, the IT admin managing a network or server has to keep him updated and the computers. Same goes for the people working in that office or home. But most IT admins in the government sector are government employees and hired on a basis other than the qualification. These then do what all the government employees do best. Instead, this should be outsourced to some private Indian company. Secondly, any security company will tell you this, if there is confidential data then do-not-connect that machine to the internet, period. But in a large organization where office are far away and need to access the data, then allow only that which is required, and that took over secured layer.
Education is important for any government officer. Also, understand that a determined attacker will be able to break in. First, let us make the real space safe. We should worry about imaginary stuxnet’s attacking our installations after sorting out real threats of a mundane kind that take aim at our country, which are poverty, tiny mean microbes, and above all, real education in its true sense. If we work on this, the youngsters of today who are now coding their youth away for money, will take care of stuxnets and bigger threats, and not let graying men in suits worry about them. The Indian government seems to have a problem with freedom. The Internet gives people freedom and the Indian government doesn’t like it. The Indian public is not concerned with the likes of STUXNET to their public utilities when a rain shower can cause a power cut. The only problem for individuals is to identity theft when thieves are using other people’s identities to obtain goods and services. Other countries in Asia use and embrace the internet but in India, there is fear. The government is in the process of putting in place the capabilities and the systems that will enable us to deal with this anarchic new world of constant and undeclared cyber threat, attack, counter-attack, and defence. We need to prepare ourselves to deal with both, threats to cyberspace and risks arising through cyberspace.
(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)
Taking a swipe over the rift between the RBI and the Centre over some issues followed by a temporary truce, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday said that it was like today’s death being postponed till tomorrow.
The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) board had held a marathon meeting on Monday over several issues, including how much capital the apex bank needs, lending norms for small and medium enterprises and rules for weak banks.
Signalling a temporary truce, the RBI and the government had agreed to refer to an expert committee the contentious issue of the appropriate size of reserves that the apex bank must hold, while restructuring of stressed loans of small businesses would be considered by the central bank.
“Fortunately, the government took a step back and the RBI also adopted a middle path. Therefore, a showdown has been temporarily averted for now.
“The RBI has decided to form an expert committee over utilising its reserves. This, some feel, is like today’s death postponed until tomorrow,” the Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.
It also said that the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector was under stress due to demonetisation, and that it also had a cascading effect on sectors like services and production.
This led to slackness in buying and selling as well as a decrease in liquidity, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party claimed.
“The GST only increased problems for these sectors. The MSME sector has come under stress today only due to the policies of this government. Though the UPA government was responsible for Rs 10 lakh crore worth debts of large companies, how can the previous government be held responsible for the stress in the MSME sector today?” the editorial asked.
The government has probably understood that it was its own doing which caused ruining of the MSME sector and therefore, made the policy to ease lending norms for them and sought the use of RBI’s reserves, said Sena, which is an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra.
“The rift between the government and the RBI started because the former sought to use the latter’s reserves, as decisions like demonetisation have tightened the noose around the MSME sector and the government now wants to free it,” it added.
The Bombay High Court Wednesday fixed January 14 for a detailed hearing on petitions filed by three persons on death row for raping a photojournalist at Shakti Mills compound here in 2013.
The decision was taken by a bench of Justices B P Dharmadhikari and Sarang Kotwal following the mutual consent of the state government and the trio’s counsels.
Three of the five accused who were convicted by the sessions court in the city in 2014 — Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali, and Salim Ansari — had moved the high court after they were sentenced to death for being repeat offenders.
The court had also found them guilty for raping another woman on Shakti Mills’ premises earlier.
The fourth accused, Siraj Khan, was sentenced to life imprisonment and the fifth, a minor, was sent to a correctional facility.
Jadhav, Bengali, and Ansari had challenged the Constitutional validity of section 376 (E) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) during the trial.
The section was introduced by the Union government after the infamous 2012 Delhi gang-rape case.
In March 2013, the Union government amended the rape laws in the country and introduced several stringent provisions, including section 376 (E).
According to the section, if a person, who has been previously convicted for an offence of rape under various provisions of section 376 of the IPC, is subsequently convicted for a repeat offence of rape, the courts can sentence him to imprisonment for the rest of his life, or, even award a death sentence.
The photojournalist, who had gone to Shakti Mills on an assignment with a male colleague, was gang-raped on August 22, 2013, sending shock waves through the city.
The prosecution invoked Section 376 (E) after it was found that four of the accused had raped an 18-year-old telephone operator at the same place a few months ago.
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will carry soil from Shivneri fort, the birthplace of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji, to Ayodhya during his visit on November 25, his close aide said on Wednesday.
Thackeray had announced during the Shiv Sena’s Vijayadashmi rally in Mumbai that he will visit Ayodhya on 25 November and “question” Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of the construction of the Ram temple.
Talking to agencies, Thackeray’s close aide Harshal Pradhan said the Sena chief will visit Shivneri fort, located near Junnar in Pune district of Maharashtra tomorrow and preparations for it are underway.
“Shivaji Maharaj is an idol not only for the Sena but for the entire country. Balasaheb Thackeray (late Sena patriarch) had always striven to work in accordance with his ideals, which Uddhav ji continues to do now,” Pradhan said.
“Thackeray will carry the soil from Shivneri fort with him in an urn to Ayodhya as Chhatrapati Shivaji’s blessings and also because the issue of Ram temple is very close to his heart,” he said.
Thackeray had said on Tuesday that he had not yet decided if he would hold a rally in Ayodhya.
In a bid to intensify his party’s campaign for the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Thackeray has given a new slogan– ‘Pehle mandir, fir sarkaar’ (first the temple, then the government).
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday extended the relief by a day from arrest granted to civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha, professor Anand Teltumbde and priest Stan Swamy in a case against them over the Koregaon-Bhima violence and alleged links with Maoists.
A bench of Justices B P Dharamadhikari and Sarang Kotwal will hear on Thursday the petitions filed by the three activists, challenging the FIR registered against them by Pune Police on January 1 in connection with the Elgar Parishad event held on December 31, 2017.
The police had alleged that Maoists supported the Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune, which led to the violence.
At the event, held a day before the January 1 caste clashes at Koregaon Bhima village near Pune, the activists had made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements that contributed to the Koregaon Bhima violence, police said.
Several activists were named in the FIR. Some of them, including Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj, P Varavara Rao, and Gautam Navlakha, were initially put under house arrest on directions of the Supreme Court.
However, all of them except Navlakha were re-arrested and taken into custody by police recently.
Navlakha was released by the Delhi High Court, after which he moved the Bombay High Court seeking to quash the FIR against him.
Teltumbde and Swamy are yet to be arrested in the case.
The Thane district administration in Maharashtra has roped in maulvis to spread awareness in their community about the vaccine to prevent infectious diseases like measles and rubella among children.
The step has been taken to remove all misconceptions from people’s minds about the measles-rubella (MR) vaccine, Collector Rajesh Narvekar told reporters here on Tuesday.
The district administration will start the MR vaccination drive from November 27 and it will continue for about six weeks, he said.
“Maulvis have been roped in to spread the awareness and make the vaccination programme a success,” Narvekar said.
The vaccination drive will cover nearly 26.86 lakh children between the age of nine months and 15 years. “Our endeavour is to ensure 100 per cent coverage,” he said.
Last year, there were seven measles cases in the district while this year, five such cases have been reported so far, the collector said.
Besides, there were three cases of rubella in 2017 but no case has been reported this year, he said.
“The aim is to eradicate these diseases completely by 2020,” he added.
At the time when the state coffers are cash-strapped and govt has a huge burden of loans to be paid, the Devendra Fadnavis government is showing largesse to its two prominent leaders by waiving Rs 59 lakhs recoverable from them by the government and has come to knowledge due to a response to an RTI query. In response to the RTI query filed by RTI Activist Anil Galgali, rent amounting to Rs 15.49 Lakhs due on Eknath Khadse and Rs 43.84 Lakhs due on Dr. Vijay Kumar Gavit was waived on an order issued to the PWD department.
Galgali had sought information from the PWD department about the penalty dues status of Former Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse and Former Minister Dr. Vijayakumar Gavit. The City division of the PWD in a response to the query provided the activist with the copy of the order issued by the government waiving the recoverable of the penalty levied on the two leaders. The State Government waived the penalty amounting to Rs 60 lakhs payable by the two top BJP leaders as a ‘special case’ and the General Administration department issued orders to the effect to the PWD department.
Eknath Khadse has levied a penalty amounting to Rs 15,49,974 for overstaying in the Ramtek bungalow beyond his allowed period post his resignation as Revenue Minister. Khadse had resigned as Minister on June 4, 2016, but vacated the bungalow on November 19, 2016. Khadse applied to the government seeking a waiver of penalty on March 26, 2018, which was considered as a ‘Special Case’. Similarly, Dr. Vijayakumar Gavit who was a Minister in the DF government had been allotted a flat admeasuring 3330 sq ft in the Suruchi building during his stint as minister, which was not vacated by him after ceasing to be a Minister. Gavit had resigned as Minister on March 20, 2014, but had continued to occupy the flat, which he eventually vacated on July 29, 2016. He was liable to pay a penal rent of Rs 43,84, 500, which he didn’t pay. Finally, he applied for a waiver from paying the charge with an application dated July 29, 2018, and the same again was considered as a ‘Special Case’ on October 22, 2018.
I am surprised over the largesse of waiver penalty granted by the government to the two BJP leaders and stated disappointment as the state coffers are empty and yet the government is waiving lakhs of rupees. In a letter addressed to CM Devendra Fadnavis, I have demanded that the said dues waived as a ‘Special Case’ should be immediately recovered with interest, Galgali stated.
Writer-producer Vinta Nanda’s lawyer Dhruti Kapadia has confirmed that the police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against actor Alok Nath who allegedly raped her.
Nanda had lodged a complaint in October against the actor who allegedly raped and sexually harassed her in the 1990s. The FIR against Nath has been booked under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Kapadia told agencies, “Vinta Nanda had registered a case against Nath after the latter filed a civil defamation suit against her. Pursuing that, she was called for investigations, queries, etc. She gave her final statement yesterday, and by the virtue of which the police felt that this is a fit case for an FIR.”
When asked if the case holds any water since it is two decades old, Kapadia said: “If there is substance today, I wouldn’t say that the case is old. The hurt of a person who is raped is still continued in nature in and out.”
Declining to speak about Nath, Kapadia said: “All I can talk is about my client. We are pursuing it (the case) and are getting good support from the public as well as women who have suffered in the industry and even the police.
