The government’s decision to allow district courts to handle cyber crimes comes as a respite for service seekers but there are doubts if the lower-rung courts have the capacity to look into the cases and deliver justice.

Prior to the decision, the Nepal Police cyber bureau at Bhotahity had the sole mandate to investigate internet-related cases. That meant people from all over the country had to come to the Capital with complaints related to cyber crimes while the police bureau, overwhelmed with the cases, has been unable to settle them timely.

In its bid to address the problem, the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs on June 26 published a notice in the Nepal gazette, announcing arrangements for cyber-related crimes to be settled in all the districts.

Earlier, cyber crime-related cases filed at the Bhotahity-based cyber bureau would only be addressed by the Kathmandu District Court. The circular published in the national gazette last month gives jurisdiction to all the district courts to issue verdicts in accordance with the Electronic Transaction Act, 2063 BS (2008).

People need to lodge their complaints at the district police office, which would then take the cases to respective district courts.

According to the police bureau, the country has seen a steep rise in cybercrime cases over the past year. According to Pashupati Kumar Ray, the bureau spokesperson, the office gets 150 cyber-related complaints on average every day, while just a few months before that, it used to get between 60 and 70 complaints.

“It would be a great relief for us if cyber crime-related cases get solved in the district itself, but I doubt they will because there is no expertise,” said Ray.

Meanwhile, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) experts and those who have closely examined cyber related crimes in the country appreciate the government move of permitting the district courts to take up cyber crime cases. However, they too are concerned if it’s feasible without the expertise and manpower needed to address the issues.

Officials at the cyber bureau are struggling to tackle complex cases given the lack of specialised technical analysis, certified experts, and people trained and sourced to deal with cyber crimes.

The cyber bureau has 84 personnel, and only 20 know how to crack the cases. The rest of the staff is engaged in administrative work. In the nearly half-decade of its establishment, no manpower has been added to address an ever-increasing number of cyber crimes.

“It looks like a knee-jerk reaction. Dealing with a cyber crime needs specialisation,” said cyber security expert Vivek Rana.

He said even though the decision has been included in the national gazette, each district would just work as an information desk, and ultimately those complaints would come to Kathmandu.

“It should not be like the case of obtaining a new passport. Our government said that one can get a new passport from each district, but people don’t believe it and come to Kathmandu,” Rana said.

The bureau’s data for the eight months until last April showed that IT-related financial frauds were the most common cybercrimes. At 955, financial frauds accounted for 20 percent of the total online crimes in the country, followed by 901 cases of revenge porn.

Financial crimes include phishing (attempting to acquire sensitive data such as bank accounts under a guise), lottery scams and fraudulent offers of work from home and online shopping.

Cases of fake profiles on social media come third, with 898 complaints registered. There were 799 complaints of online blackmailing, and 700 cases of online defamation aimed at character assassination. Over the same period, 648 cases of online harassment and 36 cases of online child sexual abuse were filed.

The latest report based on the cyber bureau's data in the past 11 months showed it registered 110 cases of sexual abuse against children.

As the internet has become an all pervasive phenomenon, even people in rural parts of the country use social media, mostly Facebook Messenger, TikTok and WhatsApp. The cyber police's report showed that most cases of financial fraud, of identity theft and online abuses happen through social media.

“We don’t have adequate trained manpower, and there is a dire need for awareness among the masses,” said Ray, the bureau spokesperson. “Although it sounds good that every district will have a unit to address cyber crimes, we also need experts there to examine the nature of crimes and solve the problem.”