India to sign treaty to take on cyber crime

THE BUDAPEST CONVENTION IS AN INTERNATIONAL TREATY ESTABLISHED IN 2004 TO ADDRESS CYBER CRIME ACROSS THE WORLD

NEW DELHI: India is likely to join a group of nations that will help tackle growing cyber terrorism, child pornography, hate crimes and violations of network security, senior home ministry officials said.

The Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, which came into force in 2004, is an international treaty established to address cyber crime across the globe through increased cooperation between countries, developing technologies and harmonising national laws. The home ministry was in favour of India joining the convention after addressing the initial reservations, a senior ministry official said.

The proposal has been sent to Union home minister Rajnath Singh, who is likely to give his assent later this month. From there on, the ministry of external affairs will carry India’s bid to join the treaty forward.

The Budapest Convention on Cybercrime was drawn up by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, and has 56 signatories that include countries which are members of the Council of Europe and non-member observer states of the European body. Among the member states of the Council of Europe are United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russian Federation and Turkey. The non-members of the Council of Europe include the United States, Israel, Japan and Canada. India will join as a nonmember of the Council of Europe, officials said.

The proposal to join the convention was being examined by Hansraj Ahir, the minister of state for home affairs, home secretary Rajib Gauba and the newly established Cyber and Information Security Division of MHA. The suggestion to sign the convention was made during a meeting by Rajnath Singh last month.

Subimal Bhattacharjee, a cyber policy adviser and member of the Research Advisory Network of Global Commission on Internet Governance, said signing the treat will help India take the role of a world leader as all of super power counties had either signed or ratified the convention.

“India is working with many countries which are part of the convention. Staying isolated by not joining it would have been pointless especially at a time when we are becoming a global power. Cyber crime has a geographical connotation and signing the treaty will only mean an enhancement of our capabilities to combat cyber crime,” he said.

Earlier, the government had argued that since India did not play any role in drafting of the treaty, becoming a signatory without having provisions in domestic law would have made it hard to coordinate with other members of the convention.