Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday asked the Bengal DGP to report on the kind of training given to police officers in cyber crime police stations across the state and the status of infrastructure in those police stations. The request came after the court was dismayed with the investigation of a cyber crime officer in a rape case in Nadia, where obscene pictures of the woman were uploaded after the act.
A division bench of Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Gaurang Kanth held that the OC of Murutia PS did not have the mindset to investigate cyber crime. "You only know the lathi, and not the internet. Why didn't you add sections 67 and 67A of the IT Act while initiating the case? The accused got bail, and you didn't collect the electronic device (cellphone) he was using at that point," Justice Bagchi said.
Justice Bagchi was taken aback when the Murutia OC submitted that police had not yet recovered the IP address of the cell phone. "We don't have the wherewithal to track the cellphone's IP address. We have served notice to the accused." the OC had said.
Justice Bagchi said: "Police officers are trained to make arrests and stop investigation after the accused gets bail. You are acting like police officers of the 19th and the 20th century, and not like those of the 21st century. You are incapable of handling the responsibility. We prefer you to be transferred to an ordinary police station because you don't have the mindset."
"In cyber crime cases, arrest is not important. What is important is getting hold of the device and doing proper digital data analysis," Justice Bagchi said.
He gave the OC some suggestions on how a cyber crime investigation should proceed. "We are not your masters. But the first thing one should do is to get hold of the electronic device used. You should find out the IMEI number and try to find out the server location from which the pictures were uploaded. Track the digital traffic flow, cash flow, and match with the pornographic sites. Try to find out the latitude and longitude of the cell phone then in use," Justice Bagchi said.
Justice Bagchi also advised the police to move a prayer in the court seeking cancellation of the bail of the accused.
The division bench directed the police to submit a report within two weeks on the progress in the case.