Centre authorises MHA's I4C wing to notify instances of information, data used for unlawful act

The Center on Thursday assigned the Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) wing of the Ministry of Home Affairs to notify cases where information, data, or communication links within a computer resource controlled by an intermediary are being utilized for unlawful activities.

By Rajnish Singh The Center on Thursday assigned the Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) wing of the Ministry of Home Affairs to notify cases where information, data, or communication links within a computer resource controlled by an intermediary are being utilized for unlawful activities.

As per the authorization, the I4C wing would perform the functions under clause (b) of sub-section (3) of Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, according to which, upon receiving actual knowledge or being notified by the appropriate government or its agency that any information, data or communication link residing in or connected to a computer resource controlled by the intermediary is being used to commit the unlawful act, the intermediary fails to expeditiously remove or disable access to that material on that resource without vitiating the evidence in any manner. The MHA announced a notification exercising the power conferred by clause (b) of sub-section (3) of Section 79 of the Information Technology Act 2000.

"In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (b) of sub-section (3) of section 79 of the Information Technology Act 2000, the Central Government, being the appropriate government, hereby designates the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), to be the agency of the Ministry of Home Affairs to perform the functions under clause (b) of sub-section (3) of Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and to notify the instances of information, data or communication link residing in or connected to a computer resource controlled by the intermediary being used to commit the unlawful act," reads the notification. When the intermediary receives verified information or is informed by the relevant government authority that any content, data, or communication link within their control and connected to a computer resource is being utilized for unlawful activities, they must promptly remove or disable access to that material on the resource without compromising the evidence.

As per officials in the government, designating the I4C, operating under the MHA's Cyber Wing, with this authorization would undoubtedly help the wing take timely and appropriate action against those indulged in illicit acts using social media networks as well as other cyber platforms. Besides social media platforms, there are various apps, betting platforms and Internet-based applications that have been engaged in cyber fraud.

This is another move by the Central Government to curb illegal activities through unlawful acts. As part of its continuous action, the Centre blocked a total of 581 apps until December 15 last year and out of these, there are 174 betting and gambling apps and 87 loan-lending apps. These apps were blocked by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on the recommendations of the MHA. These apps were blocked under Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000. These gaming applications included PUBG and Garena Free Fire.

Notably, in July last year, the Centre also amended the IGST Act, which makes it mandatory for all offshore gaming companies to be registered in India. Furthermore, the act also gave the Centre the power to block websites that are not registered and are violating laws. The betting platforms were collecting UPI payments through proxy bank accounts and the amount accumulated in proxy accounts is being remitted through hawala, crypto and other illegal routes.

Apart from Mahadev, some of the apps that were banned include Parimatch, Fairplay, 1XBET, Lotus365, Dafabet and Betwaysatta. Many of these are on the banned list and some were operating illegally in India. Recently, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also said that more than 500 Internet-based applications have been blocked on the recommendation of the I4C.

Shah made the statement while reviewing the functioning of the I4C, along with Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, and said that the Centre has prepared an analytical report of the modus operandi of the top 50 cyberattacks in the country. The government has taken several initiatives for cyber security and in the coming days, nearly 70 per cent of the criminal justice system, which includes prisons and courts, will be online, Shah added.

"More than 20 lakh cybercrime complaints have been registered on the portal cybercrime.gov.in, based on which more than 40,000 FIRs have been registered", Shah said, adding that "13 crore hits were registered on this portal since its launch in January 2020." As per a report collated by the 14C wing, on average, more than 5,000 cybercrime complaints are registered per day.

The report mentioned the growth of 113.7 per cent cybercrime complaints from 2021 to 2022, and 60.9 per cent from 2022 to 2023. The rising complaints reported on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) show 15,56,176 cybercrime complaints in 2023; 9,66,790 in 2022; 4,52,414 in 2021; 2,57,777 in 2020; and 26,049 in 2019. (ANI)

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