India
Legal authorities unite to combat terrorism in the digital age | India News – Times of India
At the end of the two-day anti-terror conference organized by the NIA here and attended by senior officials of the Central and State police forces and agencies, there was broad consensus that the Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act, though a powerful legal instrument to combat terror should be used carefully and judiciously to prevent potential abuse and maintain its effectiveness in combating terrorism.
The participants, comprising 39 heads of central and state police units and 150 delegates from across the country, agreed on the need for a holistic, well-rounded strategy to tackle the menace of terrorism, encompassing the entire anti-terror framework of covers the country, extending from government to police station level.
In his concluding remarks on Friday evening, Home Minister Govind Mohan urged the state police to commit to capacity building to effectively combat terrorism. He urged the states to send competent officers to the NIA, adding that this would not only help guide the growth of the agency but also enrich the investigative culture at home when these officers return to their state cadre. The NIA will hold several more capacity building sessions for states, he announced, adding that more NFSU campuses and CFSLs were also in the pipeline to promote the quality of digital evidence and secure conviction in terror cases.
While underlining the role of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C) in tackling financial and cyber-related crimes in a coordinated manner, Mohan reiterated Minister Amit Shah’s views on the need to tackle all police and investigative agencies and forces to share data and information in real time.
During the conference, participants took part in thematic sessions on topics such as ‘Prosecution and Evolving Legal Framework in Counter-Terrorism Investigations’, ‘Significant Case Studies in Terror Investigations’, ‘Emerging Technologies’, ‘Dismantling the Terror Ecosystem’ and ‘Comprehensive CT strategies’.
Police chiefs called for global cooperation to tackle terrorists’ misuse of social media amid varying content moderation policies. The session on case studies in terror investigations discussed the Rameshwaram Cafe blast investigation in which central agencies and various state police had worked closely and painstakingly to trace the path of the bomber and crack the case.
Against the backdrop of emerging technologies, the need to pool resources to overcome cyber and technical limitations was emphasized.
