NHRC notice to DGP, Tamil Nadu over allegations of non-registration of FIRs on complaints of cyber crimes (09.9.2015)

PRESS RELEASE

New Delhi, 9th September, 2015

The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to the Director General of Police, Government of Tamil Nadu on a complaint that non-registration of First Information Report, FIR on complaints relating to cyber crimes, continues unabated in Tamil Nadu in spite of a notice issued in this regard by the Commission to the State's Director General of Police. He has been asked to submit a report within four weeks.

According to the complaint, non-registration of FIRs in cognizable offences, like cyber crimes, amounts to gross violation of human rights as it denies setting the law into motion. Instead of registering an FIR that will require them to investigate the case, the Tamil Nadu police is mostly giving acknowledgment under the Community Service Register that is meant for non-cognizable offences and that is why the number of registered cases pertained to cyber crime is very low in the State.

The complainant alleged that despite increase of 69 per cent of cyber crime cases in India, the number of such cases in Tamil Nadu is low because the culture of non-registration of cyber crime cases continues here. He also attached a media report highlighting relatively the low registration of cyber crime cases in Tamil Nadu compared to other similarly populous States as per the National Crime Records Bureau data. The media report also quoted police sources acknowledging that there are no dedicated teams or Cyber Labs in the State and that the cyber crime related complaints are often registered under the Community Service Register.

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