Despite standing instructions from the police to arrest those carrying out hate and communal campaigns on social media on the Sabarimala issue, cyber cells are yet to swing into action against those using fake Facebook and WhatsApp accounts to circulate objectionable content.
Fake Facebook accounts are now popping up with inciting contents in various languages and are widely being shared among users.
Incidentally, the number of cases registered in the last three months in Kozhikode district is below five. A majority of cases now under investigation in the district pertain to banking frauds. Besides, cyber cell officials are mostly occupied with follow-up investigations of previously registered cases and tracing call records to assist probe into other cases registered within the city and rural police station limits.
Threat call
A youth who recently received a threat call on WhatsApp said the local police were not keen to register cyber cases and probing them as they were preoccupied with the routine law and order enforcement. On most occasions, they treat them as simple issues and pressurise complainants to withdraw petitions, he claimed.
In the absence of written complaints, the cyber wing has not voluntarily tracked the creators of fake Facebook pages, where objectionable content is circulated. Since some pages were found to be operated in the names of leading political parties, there were no complainants from individuals or organisations.
In trolls too, the pages have been found to be circulating morphed images and manipulated videos of politicians and religious leaders. During the recent hartal, some fake account holders were found posting derogatory comments on those who flayed the hartal call and even pointing fingers at political leaders.
Meanwhile, police officers investigating cyber cases said the procedures involved in tracking the sources and collecting evidence in cases pertaining to social media content were complicated, and that the issue could be addressed only with the opening of more cyber stations. The decision to expand the activities of the Cyberdome too was taken in the backdrop of the challenges, they added.
The officers also claimed that the cyber police station in Thiruvananthapuram had been directly handling all major cases, and that district-level cells were yet to be equipped to carry out independent investigations.
At the same time, district-level cyber cells have managed to track several suspicious social media pages with malicious content and forwarded the details as instructed by the District Police Chiefs to the hi-tech cell for follow-up probe, they said.
