As policing in India new ways to deal with changing trends in the crimes, the Kerala Police has launched a digital platform where people can get easy redressals for their cybercrime complaints. The initiative, known as ‘Aparajitha is Online’, was taken by the Kerala state police under the guidance of DGP Kerala, Lokanath Behera.
The initiative is a quick response digital mechanism for grievance redressal of online-based harassment against women and girls in Kerala. Heading the initiative, SP Women Cell, Merin Joseph spoke to Indian Masterminds and shared the views on how it will help the people of the state.
THE IDEA
Ms. Joseph, who has been given an additional charge of SP Women Cell Kerala, said “The initiative was taken up in the aftermath of the Covid 19 lockdown when the cyber-harassment cases were going up as people were more active online. Suddenly there were a huge number of such complaints which were being received. So, it was felt that this is becoming an area of priority and concern and many people are being affected through it.
“Generally, people while approaching the police for filing a cybercrime complaint, always have confusion as to whom they should approach. In case of a normal offense, it is okay to go to a police station but people are not sure if they should do the same in a cyber-related complaint, because it is not bound by any jurisdiction. Therefore, this platform was introduced to create uniformity in reporting of the complaints and facilitating it by creating a single platform.”
The initiative was launched in the end of last year and the charge was given to the SP Women Cell.
THE OPERATION
After making a digital platform, the Kerala Police generated an email id where people can share their complaints and attach all the relevant evidence they have regarding the case. The administrative management of the initiative is managed by the SP Women Cell office, and once an email is received, it is checked whether the case should be forwarded to a police station or a women cell.
Several women personnel have also been trained for handling such cases in every police station. Once the complaint is forwarded to a specific police station, the trained women personnel look into the petition and take charge accordingly.
As the main objective is to identify and locate the offenders, the women personnel seek help from cyber cell, District Cyber Cell, Hi-Tech Cell, Cyber Dome, etc. After identification of the offender, the complainant is informed and with their approval, further legal actions are taken.
BENEFITS
Ms. Joseph said, “The major benefit of the move is that it will make things easier for the complainant as they now have a single platform to file their complaint, rather than hunting for hundred other ways. Though we have multiple options where people can file their cybercrime complaints, such as cyber cells, Hi-tech cell, cyber dome, police stations etc., but there are various accessibility issues while visiting such places.”
The Kerala police also shared the initiative on its social media handles to make people aware about it. More efforts will be made in the coming days to promote it further. Since the launch of the initiative, the state police have recorded a steady number of petitions and are working on streamlining the whole process so that the complaints can be addressed more effectively.
