New Delhi: Contrary to popular belief that cyber crime is on the rise, statistics show that the cases of the "new age" crime has declined with the most noticeable difference seen in Gujarat.

There has been a sharp decline in cases of the cyber crime in Gujarat where such incidents have come down from 155 cases in 2005 to just six in 2006. One of the six minors who got arrested on charges of cyber crime also hailed from Gujarat, according to Crime in India: 2006 report prepared by National Crime Records Bureau.

Out of the six cases, five were registered under provisions of the Information Technology Act while one was filed under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code. While 153 cases were registered under IPC sections in Gujarat in 2005, only one was filed in 2006 under IPC.

However, no reasons were attributed in the report for the decline in the registration of cyber crime related cases in Gujarat. A senior official said the decline does not indicate that the incidents of cyber crime in the state had actually decreased. "This is only a statistics based on the number of cases registered," he added.

The report also said a total of 565 people were arrested across the country in 2006 on charges of cyber crime, which registered a decrease of 28 cases as compared to previous year. Madhya Pradesh registered the largest number of cyber crimes (131) in 2006 followed by Andhra Pradesh (116). The largest state of Uttar Pradesh, which had four cyber cases in 2005, did not register a single case in the same year.

Source : PTI