Central govt. has launched Cyber Crime Prevention against Women & Children (CCPWC) portal to strengthen women safety. The portal cybercrime.gov.in will receive complaints from the citizens on objectionable online content related to child pornography, child sexual abuse material, sexually explicit material like rape and gang rape. CCPWC portal will facilitate victims / complainants to report cyber crime complaints online in either anonymous mode or ‘report & track’ mode.
Respective police authorities of states / UTs will deal with the complaints filed on cyber crime portal on the basis of information provided by the complainants. Cyber crime portal also provides an option to report an anonymous complaint, where complainants are not required to disclose their identity.
Another portal named National Database on Sexual Offenders (NDSO) was also launched to provide assistance in monitoring & investigation of sexual crimes. NDSO portal will only be accessed by the law enforcement agencies to effectively track and investigate cases of sexual offences.
Cyber Crime Portal for Prevention of Crimes against Women & Children
Cyber Crime Prevention against Women & Children portal caters to complaints pertaining to online Child Pornography (CP) / Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) or sexually explicit content such as Rape / Gang Rape (CP / RGR) content. CCPWC portal is user friendly and will enable complainants to report cases without disclosing their identity. This facility will not only assist victims / complainants but will civil society organizations and citizens to anonymously report complaints.
Complainants can even upload the objectionable content and URL to help in the investigation procedure by the State Police. Complaints registered on CCPWC portal will be handled by the police authorities of respective states and union territories.
Report Complaint Anonymously on Cyber Crime Portal (cybercrime.gov.in)
Follow the steps given below to report your complaint anonymously on cyber crime portal:-
Step 1 – Firstly visit the official website https://cybercrime.gov.in/Default.aspx
Step 2 – At the homepage, click at the “Report Anonymously” button under ‘Report Women / Child Related Crime‘ section as shown in the figure:-
Step 3 – In the next window, click at “File a Complaint” button, next click at “I Accept” button. After clicking the button, the “Complaint Registration at Cyber Crime Reporting Portal” will appear as follows:-
Step 4 – Here candidates can give full information about the incident and file their complaint for investigation purpose.
Report & Track Complaint Online at CCPWC Portal
In-case you opt for “Report and Track” option, information fields with a red asterisk marks (*) are mandatory. The complete information of the incident must be provided to the police to properly investigate the case. Therefore, you will need to provide key information such as your name, phone number, email address, details of the incident / complaint and necessary information supporting the complaint. Follow the steps below to file complaint and track it online at cyber crime portal:-
Step 1 – Firstly visit the official website https://cybercrime.gov.in/Default.aspx
Step 2 – At the homepage, click at the “Report & Track” button under ‘Report Women / Child Related Crime‘ section as shown in the figure:-
Step 3 – In the next window, click at “File a Complaint” button, next click at “I Accept” button. After clicking the button, the “Report & Track Complaint at Cyber Crime Reporting Portal” will appear as follows:-
Step 4 – Here candidates can give full information about themselves and the incident to file their complaint for investigation purpose.
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) will proactively identify objectionable content and take necessary steps for its removal. For this NCRB has been notified as the Government of India agency to issue notices under Section 79(3)b of IT Act.
Measures to Check Cyber Crime against Women & Children
Government has taken various measures to check crime against women and children:-
- Provision of capital punishment in case of rape of a minor girl child below the age of 12 years.
- Creation of modern forensics facilities to improve investigation.
- Creation of the Women’s Safety Division in MHA.
- Starting of several safe city projects for women’s safety.
Police has a major role to play and overcome field level challenges at the ground level in investigation of women and children related crimes and to ensure justice to victims. Union Minister urges police to utilize potential of 2 portals and update database regularly for greater effectiveness.
The primary focus would be on time-bound completion of investigation in sexual crimes. Cybercrime and NDSO portal will be extremely helpful to the law enforcement agencies in investigation especially in those cases where offenders migrate to other states after committing crime.
National Database on Sexual Offenders (NDSO)
National Database on Sexual Offenders (NDSO) portal is a central database of sexual offenders across the country. NCRB will maintain this portal and the state police will regularly monitor and track this database. Only the law enforcement agencies can access this database for investigation purposes.
Database of sexual offenders will include those criminals who are convicted under the charges of rape, gang rape, POCSO and eve teasing. Till 13 July 2021, this database includes the names of 4.4 lakh criminals.
The state police have been requested to regularly update the database from FY 2005 onward. The database includes name, address, photograph and fingerprint details for each entry but the privacy of individuals will be maintained. For more details, visit the official website cybercrime.gov.in
Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has released Rs. 94.5 crore to states / UTs to establish cyber forensic-cum-training laboratories. This would strengthen cybercrime investigation and capabilities of police officers, public prosecutors and judicial officers would be raised.
For more details, check the details about CCPWC Scheme – https://www.mha.gov.in/division_of_mha/cyber-and-information-security-cis-division/Details-about-CCPWC-CybercrimePrevention-against-Women-and-Children-Scheme