Women cyber cell to be set up in cyber police stations across UP

Noida: The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to set up a ‘women cyber cell’ at each cyber police station in the state to deal with cases such as cyberstalking and cyberbullying.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath will inaugurate the initiative on the Women’s Day on March 8, officials said, adding that the women cell will have one sub-inspector and two constables.

“The cases of online stalking and bullying have increased in recent times. The women cyber cell will specifically deal with women-related cybercrime. The team will be trained in dealing with cybercrimes. We will also provide required tools and equipment to deal with such cases,” said Ram Kumar, UP’s additional director general of police (cybercrime).

There are 18 cyber police stations in various cities, including Noida, Lucknow, Agra, Aligarh, Saharanpur, Prayagraj, Bareilly, Moradabad, and Gorakhpur. The cyber police stations in Lucknow and Noida started in 2018, while others were inaugurated in August last year. These cyber police stations directly report to Lucknow, and do not come under the respective district police. Noida has a cyber police station in Sector 36.

Besides, there are also cyber cells in each district’s police department, the officials said.

Awanish Kumar Awasthi, UP’s additional chief secretary, on March 4 had issued a letter to the UP police to develop women cyber cell at all the cyber police stations in the state. The UP director general of police, HC Awasthi, recently also issued a letter to the additional DGP (cybercrime) and regional police chief informing about the setting up of the cell at the cyber police stations.

“Women sometimes face unwanted situations over the internet and social media. Most of these cases are related to cyberstalking and cyberbullying. Under Phase 2 of the Mission Shakti programme, all the cyber police stations will have a women cyber cell,” said the DGP’s letter.