MHA forms two new units to check cyber fraud, radicalisation

THE DECISION WAS TAKEN AFTER INCREASE IN ONLINE ACTIVITIES BY SUSPECTED EXTREMISTS AND FRAUDS

NEWDELHI: The Ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Friday created two divisions to deal with radicalisation and cyber fraud as part of a major rejig.

The decision, according to a senior ministry official, was taken after online activities by suspected extremists and frauds witnessed a rise.

The new divisions will be called Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalisation (CTCR) and Cyber and Information Security (CIS).

A home ministry spokesperson said the CTCR division will be responsible for devising strategies for de-radicalisation of Indian youth and to keep a check on activities of domestic and international terror outfits.

Officials said the CIS wing was created to monitor illegal and criminal internet activities.

Among the primary responsibilities of this division will be to monitor crimes such as cyber fraud, hacking, social media threats, identity theft and rumour mongering.

Among other decision taken by the MHA on Friday is the merger of some of its key divisions.

The ministry had three divisions on internal security — Internal Security I, II and III (also known as IS-I, IS-II and IS-III). While IS-I and IS-III have been merged, IS-II will now be the CTCR division.

IS-I previously was responsible to deal with subversive and terror activities and IS-III dealt with protection of Human Rights Act and also matters relating to national integration and communal harmony and Ayodhya-Babri Masjid issue.

The judicial division of Ministry of home affairs, which primarily dealt with matters relating to the legislative aspects of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), has been merged with the CentreState (CS) division.