Kerala leads list on obscene postings on Internet

New Delhi, Jul 3:

is the most literate state in the country but when it comes to posting

articles or photos on the Internet, people from God's own country seem to be also on top, if one goes by government data.

Twenty-seven per cent (136) of the 496 cases of obscene publication registered in the country last year were from the southern state, topping the list in this regard. Around 55 per cent of the 245 cyber crime cases reported last year were from Kerala.

According to the 'Crime in India 2011' report released recently by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Kerala is way ahead of Andhra Pradesh which came second with 52 cases followed by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh with 40 cases each.

In a list of 53 cities having a population of over one lakh, Kerala's commercial capital Kochi ranked fourth with 12 cases of obscene publication and was behind Bengaluru (19), Jodhpur (15) and Ludhiana (13). There were seven cases from Malappuram, five from Kozhikode and four each from Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur among others.

Keralites also used the cyber world to indulge in eve-teasing or harassing women with a motive in 85 cases registered, second only to Andhra Pradesh (98) in this connection. While 13 cases in Kerala related to settling scores, in 32 it was for money.

At the all-India level, the report said cyber crimes went up by a whopping 67 per cent last year in the country while the number of those arrested for such incidents rose by 140 per cent. According to the report, the number of such cases touched 2,213 (registered under IT Act and IPC sections) in 2011 from 1,322 the previous year.

In 2008, the figure for cyber cases was 464 across the In 2008, the figure for cyber cases was 464 across the country while for 2009 it had increased to 696. Maharashtra (393) and Andhra Pradesh (372) topped the list with highest number of cyber crime cases followed by Kerala (245), Karnataka (160), Rajasthan (146) and Uttar Pradesh (114). Delhi registered 99 cases. The number of arrests for cyber crimes also showed a significant increase from 682 in 2010 to 1,630 last year.

In 2008, it was 313 and in 2009, the figure was 551. Among the arrested, 31 were minors while 13 were above the age of 60 years. As many as 883 people who were arrested belonged to 18-30 years age bracket while 554 belonged to 30-45 years group. 139 were in the 45-60 years group.

The highest number of cases were of loss or damage to computer resources in which 826 cases were registered and 487 people were arrested. 259 cases of forgery were also registered and 227 arrested. For harassing people by posting obscene articles or photos, 443 people were arrested in 496 cases.

PTI