Over 27,000 police personnel to be trained to handle cyber crimes against women, children

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday that the Home Ministry will train 27,500 police personnel across the country to tackle cyber crimes against women and children.

"Ministry of Home Affairs is implementing Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children scheme in the period 2017-2020 which aims to train 27,500 police personnel across the country in the field of cyber domain," Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said.

He also said that the Centre had directed all the state and union territory governments to monitor closely the situation arising against the backdrop of blue whale challenge game wherein several instances of children committing suicide had come to fore.

The Blue Whale Challenge is reportedly a suicide game in which the player is given certain tasks to complete over a period of 50 days and the final task leads him or her to commit suicide.

The challenge starts by asking participants via social media to draw a whale on a piece of paper, then carve a whale figure on their body. It is followed by other tasks such as watching horror movies alone or waking up at unearthly hours.

The tasks also involve self-harm, while the final challenge is to commit suicide. The player is also asked to share photos after finishing each challenge.

The minister further said in a written reply that police and public order are State subjects and prevention, detection, investigation of crime including capacity building of police personnel are primarily the responsibility of states.

The minister added that training to law enforcement personnel is regularly imparted through various national and state police academies and institutes.

In response to a separate question, he said the scheme is run from NIRBHAYA funds during the period 2017-2020, which inter alia, aims at setting up an online cyber-crime reporting platform to allow public to report complaints of cybercrime, including child pornography and facilitate removal of child pornographic content in coordination with concerned ministries.

(With PTI inputs)