The menace of malicious website is posing serious threat to social cohesion and harmony among the people of the country. Many websites have sprung that spread hatred among the people and function under the rubric of freedom of expression. Freedom of expression allowed by all democratic Governments does not mean that somebody has the freedom to spread hatred against others whom they may not like or with whom they may have ideological differences. Democracy does not recommend dividing society and polarizing it into groups and anti and pro factions. That is going to destroy the society. The Home Ministry has taken serious note of the fact that some websites are bent upon disseminating hatred and ill will against one or the other group through social media. Speaking in the Parliament, the State Minister for Home Affairs, Kiran Rijiju said that terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda, Hizbul Mujahideen, ISIS and Boko Haram have been making use of the social media for recruitment, and to deal with the problem, the Government will treat the issue effectively. He said that the Home Ministry has already moved in the direction and more is yet to come as the Government has decided to come down heavily on any instrument of public information that propagates against the interest of the State.
The Minister conceded that the Ministry has some shortcomings in this behalf and these are looked into and would be streamlined soon. There is shortage of skilled manpower to handle the website and decide what treatment should be meted out to these on the basis of the merits of the case. Cyber crime is much more potential than what we ordinarily think.
We appreciate that the attention of the Home Ministry is focused on this urgent matter. For strengthening enforcement agencies, MHA has made provision to train 90,000 police personnel and 15,000 judicial in cyber security across the country. There are 36 cyber crime centers to deal with the problem. We welcome this belated decision and we are hopeful that the Home Ministry will take effective measures to remove the suspect websites and thus contribute to the security of the country.
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