Cyber Command Centre should be made robust without transferring officers frequently: Karnataka High Court

Observing that the Cyber Command Centre (CCC) should not be a mere edifice of bureaucracy but a beacon heralding a new dawn in the fight against cybercrime, the High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday said that officials posted to the CCC should not face frequent transfers.

Also, the court directed that the it is imperative that the cybercrime helpline 1930 be integrated with the Police Information Technology application that is subsisting and all this to be a part of the CCC besides integration of the system of jurisdictional police station and the CCC for every cybercrime to be brought under the umbrella of the CCC, whether the crime is registered with jurisdictional police or the CEN police stations.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna issued the directions while monitoring the progress made in making the CCC operation as per the directions issued by the court in April this year.

Stating that the CCC must be insulated from external intrusion, the court said the officers, particularly the head of CCC, should not be frequently moved out of the centre, unless warranted at least until a year or two, till the teething problems of CCC or the birth pangs of the establishment does not get obviated, particularly the head of CCC.

“The head of the CCC and his team working in the CCC must not be overnight de-positioned, without the consultation of the head of the CCC. I make it clear that it is consultation and not information, as any investigation by the CCC under way, should not be thwarted by repeated change of officers of the CCC,” Justice Nagaprasanna observed.

The court also made it clear that it would be the duty of the CCC to ensure transparency in its functioning and take steps towards such transparency, including alleged corruptions within the CCC.

1930 helpline

Pointing out that police officers, who act on complaints received on loss of money from bank accounts, take steps for freezing and de-freezing accounts to secure return of lost money without any documents, the court made it clear that it is necessary that the conversation of 1930 helpline should be recorded as a part of the police/information technology system and if necessary draw up a zero FIR against each of the complaints received by the helpline.

The State government is expected to make the CCC robust, people-friendly, deft and iron-handed to handle cybercrimes, the court said, while directing the head of the CCC to submit a status report by September 24 on the progress in the investigation of cybercrimes or integration of information and technology cases to be done under one roof i.e. CCC.