GUWAHATI, Dec 10 - Assam has earned the dubious distinction of having the fifth highest number of cases registered under various cyber crimes in the country in the year 2016.
As per latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 696 cyber crime cases were reported during 2016 in Assam, which is an increase of over 44 per cent compared to the previous year. In 2015, there were 483 such cases in the State.
Nationally, Assam�s share of cases reported under cyber crimes during 2016 was 5.7 per cent of the total 12,317 such cases across India.
Altogether, 699 persons were arrested under various cyber crimes in Assam last year and 117 persons were chargesheeted.
Uttar Pradesh reported the maximum number of such cases (2,639) in 2016, followed by Maharashtra (2,380 cases), Karnataka (1,101 cases) and Rajasthan (941 cases).
It is noteworthy that among the Northeastern states, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland witnessed a surge in cases under cyber crimes year-on-year during 2016, while the other states reported a decline in number of such incidences.
Manipur reported 11 cases in 2016 as against six in 2015, while in Nagaland there were two incidences of cyber crimes in 2016 compared to none in the previous year.
Tripura witnessed eight such incidents last year as against 13 in 2015.
In Arunachal Pradesh, there were four such cases in 2016 compared to six in the previous year.
The total number of cases in Meghalaya came down to 39 last year from 56 in 2015.
Mizoram reported only one such case in 2016 compared to eight in 2015.
Nationally, a total of 12,317 cases of cyber crimes were reported in 2016 compared to 11,592 in 2015, which is an increase of over six per cent, NCRB data said.
Of all the 696 cases reported in Assam during 2016, 156 had illegal gain as the motive, 329 were on account of emotional motives like revenge, three were committed with an intention to outrage the modesty of women, 59 were attributed to extortion and blackmailing, 41 were committed with the motive of sexual exploitation, 35 were intended for causing disrepute, five were committed with intention to incite hate crimes against some particular community, one was a prank, 10 had political motives, and 57 for other reasons.
