An ineffective cyber
law of India and lack of cyber
law skills among the law enforcement agencies of India is
resulting in increased cyber crimes and offences through the medium
of e-commerce websites in India. Further, cyber
law awareness in India is also missing that is resulting
in increased e-commerce
frauds in India.
In these circumstances, e-commerce
websites frauds, offences and crimes in India have
increased a lot. For instance, the e-commerce sites selling adult
merchandise in India are openly violating the laws of
India. Similarly, e-commerce websites in India are engaging
in punishable soft porn publication and Indian government is sleeping
over the matter.
There are well recognised legal
requirements to start an e-commerce website in India and
the legal
formalities required for starting e-commerce business in India.
As on date, the e-commerce websites are not following such techno
legal requirements. They are also not following the cyber
law due diligence requirements of India and are liable for
Internet
intermediary liability in India.
E-commerce websites dealing with online
pharmacies, online
gamming and gambling, online selling of adult merchandise,
etc are openly and continuously violating the laws of India,
including the cyber law of India. However, India government has yet
to take action against these offending e-commerce websites of India.
Fortunately, the Supreme Court of India is taking
some action in this regard. Recently, the Supreme Court of India has
sought
response from central government over blocking of porn
website sin India. Similarly, the Supreme Court of India has
entertained a public interest litigation seeking regulations
and guidelines for effective investigation of cyber crimes
in India.
The cyber law of India is too weak to tackle cyber
criminals effectively. In fact, cyber
law of India should be repealed and an effective cyber law
must be formulated as soon as possible. The cyber criminals are
becoming innovative day by day and our laws are grossly inadequate to
deal with the same.
For instance, numerous websites, both Indian and
foreign, are violating the cyber law of India by operating illegal
e-commerce websites in India. These websites are engaging in illegal
trade in wildlife, promising home delivery of live animals, prized
animal parts and rare medicinal plants from across nations through
simple internet banking formats.
These are transnational crimes where the authorship
attribution for cyber crimes is very difficult to
establish. Realising this reality, the India's wildlife crime control
bureau (WCCB) is utilising the services of cyber crime experts to
trace such cyber criminals. A preliminary inquiry by WCCB bureau's
cyber crime specialists has indicated that nearly a thousand websites
are advertising sale and delivery of live animals and animal products
protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 of India and the
global convention on international trade in endangered species
(CITES).
Surprisingly, most of these websites are popular
shopping websites, online classifieds and free ad posting websites,
etc. They are clearly violating the cyber law and other laws of India
and Indian government is not taking any action against these
websites. It is high time to take strict penal action against such
illegal e-commerce websites in India.
