Bhubaneswar: Cases of violence against women have witnessed an alarming rise in the state during the COVID-induced lockdown, a report said.
Aside from domestic violence, rape and torture, there have been several cases of cyber crime against women.
As people are locked inside their homes, they are prone to spending most of their time on browsing Internet. Cyber criminals are taking advantage of the situation, especially targeting unsuspecting women.
As of now, 54 cases of cyber crime targeting women have been filed with the National Commission for Women in April, while the number of such cases was 37 in March and 21 in February from across the country.
In Odisha, over 10 such cases have come to the fore. The victims are generally famous people like film and TV actresses. As per the NCW data, during the lockdown, cyber crime against woman has doubled. While few such cases are filed at cyber crime cells, police stations and the NCW, most of them go unreported.
In most instances such as trolling or harassment on social media, obscene pictures and viral videos, blackmailing, account hacking, online threat and even fraud, women usually maintain a silence.
States like Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are in the forefront in dealing with such crimes, while Odisha lags behind. Owing to this, cyber crimes against women are increasing in the state.
In fact, cyber crime against women has become a new trend now. Incidents like creating fake IDs, using photos of women; cyber bullying, online stalking has been a major challenge for the police these days.
According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), Odisha is the second state after Assam in the country in terms of increase in cyber crime against women.
NCRB report-2018 says that the state has recorded 843 cyber crime cases – 506 related to fraud and 224 related to financial irregularities.
Of these, 208 cases were related to cyber crime against women, while 172 cases involved uploading obscene pictures of women.
In 2017, the state Crime Branch recorded 824 such cases and 184 of them were related to obscene pictures and videos of women.
The number has been increasing every year.
In 2017, a total of 21,796 cases of cyber crime were registered. Of these cases, 19.5 per cent cases were related to women.
In some cases, emails appearing like COVID-related guidelines are sent to emails of woman. Once they click on the links, they are asked for personal. Assuming that the emails are from the government, women easily pass on their personal information. Cyber criminals use the data to manipulate things.
IT expert Bandana Sharma observed that if women are made aware of these threats, incidents of cyber crime can be reduced. They need to be made aware of how to safely use digital media, use strong pass words, be aware of suspected links, fake videos and emails to reduce cyber crime, she added.