Juvenile crime increases in Kashmir, decreases in Jammu
Against 324 cases, only 36 taken to logical conclusion
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Jan 6: Despite sharp rise in the hacking, credit card fraud and phishing cases, there is very poor disposal of cyber crime cases in this Union Territory as against a total of 324 cases only 36 were disposed off by the Cyber Cells of the Jammu and Kashmir Police in the year 2020.
The cyber crime is a criminal activity that either targets or uses a computer, a computer network or a networked device. Most of the cyber criminals are organized, use advanced techniques and are highly technically skilled.
Some specific examples of the different types of cyber crime are e-mail and internet fraud, identity fraud (where personal information is stolen and used), theft of financial or card payment data etc. Like in other parts of the country, Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory is too witnessing rise in the cyber crime cases and this can be gauged from the data of Jammu and Kashmir Police, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR.
At the beginning of year 2020, a total of 182 cyber crime cases were pending investigation in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Of these, 61 were registered in different Police Stations of Jammu region and 63 in the Kashmir division. The remaining were registered by Crime Branch Jammu and Crime Branch Kashmir.
During the year, 142 more cyber crime cases were registered, which include 74 in Jammu division, 64 in Kashmir and 4 by Crime Branch Kashmir. With this, the total number of cases for investigation increased to 324. However, only 19 cases were challaned by the Police while as 8 cases could not be traced and 9 were not admitted. Due to poor disposal, a total of 288 cases were pending for investigation at the end of year 2020.
In Jammu region, the maximum cyber crime cases were registered in Jammu district (25) followed by Rajouri (10) while as in Kashmir Zone of the Police, maximum cases were registered by Cyber Police Station (18) followed by Pulwama (14). No such case was registered in Doda in Jammu region and Awantipora and Bandipora in Kashmir valley.
“Keeping in view the rise in the cyber crime cases in the Union Territory, the Jammu and Kashmir Police is required to equip particularly the Cyber Police Stations with most sophisticated equipment and adequate manpower so as to increase the disposal of cases”, police sources stressed, adding “moreover, Jammu and Kashmir Police is required to conduct awareness programmes on large scale so that general public is made aware of the growing threat of cyber crimes which will subsequently help in checking the problem up to large extent”.
Meanwhile, juvenile crime witnessed sharp rise in all the 10 districts of Kashmir valley while as the same declined considerably in the Jammu region during the year 2020.
As per the official data, in the year 2019 a total of 86 cases of juvenile in conflict with law were registered in the 10 districts of Jammu region while as there were a total of 135 such cases in the districts of Kashmir valley.
However, during the year 2020, the number of juvenile crime cases decreased to 48 in Jammu region while as in Kashmir valley the same were increased to 219. There was no such cases in Anantnag, Kulgam, Kupwara and Baramulla districts in the year 2019 but during the year 2020, 2, 48, 2 and 7 cases of juvenile crime were registered in these districts. In Shopian district, the number increased from 10 in 2019 to 36 in 2020 while as in Barmulla the same increased from 24 in 2019 to 38 in 2020 and from 5 in year 2019 in Bandipora to 28 in 2020.
In Jammu region, the districts which witnessed decrease in juvenile crime cases are Jammu, Kathua, Poonch and Ramban.
It is pertinent to mention here that ‘juveniles in conflict with law’ refers to any person below the age of 18 years who comes into contact with the justice system as a result of being suspected or accused of committing crimes.