Nepal

Kathmandu, August 26

It has just been three months since Nepal Police brought a dedicated cyber bureau into operation in a bidto control cybercrime, but every day, a large number of people throng the bureau office locatedin Bhotahiti, Kathmandu, to file complaints.

The bureau, since its establishment in Bhotahiti, has recorded a total of320 complaints, all of them related to social media such as Facebook, Youtube and WhatsApp. Of them, 140 complaints were filed only within 30 days from July 15 to August 15 of the current fiscal.

Senior Superintendent of Police Nabinda Aryal at the bureau said, &Some five to 20 persons visit the bureau to file complaints on a daily basis, and most of them are girls and women.&

Two college girls in uniform, who were spotted at the bureau office, told THT that they felt relatively comfortable visiting the bureau office to file complaints. They had visited the bureau after someone started sending vulgar pictures on Facebook messenger. Before visiting the bureau, they had visited Metropolitan Police Crime Division at Teku, but had returned from there after a police officer theresuggested that they should visit the bureau.

Until now, cases related to cybercrime inside Kathmandu valley were filed by the MPCD, Teku, and Central Investigation Bureau.

Police record shows that incidents of cybercrime have drastically increased in the past three years. A total of 1,318 cybercrime cases were filed in fiscal 2016-17.

The number had increased to 1,694 in fiscal 2017-18 and 2,209 in fiscal 2018-19. Comparative data of three years shows that cybercrime grew by nearly 37 per cent from 2016 to 2019.

Among all the complaints, police record shows that above 90 per cent of complaints are related to Facebook, followed by Youtube, Imo and WhatsApp simultaneously.

Bikash Shrestha, Deputy Inspector General of the cyber bureau said that taking action against cyber offenders was becoming more complicated due to lack of coordination with social media sites most of which were registered in the USA and abided by their own laws.

&Until and unless such social sites have their offices in the country, or we establish official relationship with such corporate offices, we will continue facing hurdles in crime investigation,& DIG Shrestha said.

Facebook doesn&t have an office in Nepal, thus the police have to request the Facebookregional office in Hong Kong to get access to any Facebook account for investigation.

SSP Aryal said establishment of the bureau had been helpful in receiving information in cases related to kidnapping, murder or rape. &Our continuous effort has made it comparatively easier to access data through Facebook.&

SSP Aryal, however, also said that they were still facing difficulty accessing data of fan-page and celebrities even if their involvement was seen in some crimes.

Until today, the issue ofcybercrime is under the Electronic Transaction Act 2008, which has provision for five-year jail term or fine of Rs 100,000 if convicted of cybercrime.

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Kathmandu, August 26

Speaking in the House of Representatives, one of the presidium members of Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal Mahendra Raya Yadav today requested the government to reform the Eminent Persons Group on Nepal-India Relations so asto include representatives from Madhes and opposition parties.

&There should be representatives from among Madhesis who make 52 per cent of the total population of the country,& Yadav said. He also accused the group members of preparing the report without keeping in mind issues of national interest and sovereignty. & Since the group has not collected peopleviews while preparing the report, we are not ready to accept the report as it is,& he added.

Interestingly, Yadavrequest to reform the EPG has come almost a year after it completed its report and a week after Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam JaishankarNepal visit.

The group has four members each from Nepal and India. Nepali EPG members include former foreign minister and ambassadorBhekhBahadurThapa, former chief commissioner of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority Surya NathUpadhyay, former law minister NilamberAcharya and Nepal Communist Party (NCP) leader Rajan Bhattarai.

The Indian EPG members are senior BharatiyaJanata Party leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari, former vice-chancellor of Sikkim University Mahendra Lama, former Indian ambassador to Nepal Jayant Prasad and VIF senior fellow late BC Upreti.

The group had finalised its report after the EPGninth and final meeting on June 30 last year. The EPG, whose two-year tenure ended on July 3 last year, had been mandated to come up with a report on anything that needed to be updated, adjusted or amended in all the existing bilateral treaties, agreements, understandings, including the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950.

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KATHMANDU: Speaking in the House of Representatives, Chief Whip of ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Dev Prasad Gurung on Monday said the Ranger Battalion of the Nepali Army should be dissolved.

The Ranger Battalion of NA was formed during the Maoist insurgency in Nepal during 1996-2006 with the support of the US government.

&Those bodies formed during the insurgency should be dissolved as we don&t require them now,& he said, adding that the Ranger Battalion should be dissolved.

Moreover, Gurung also said that the NA should not form a regiment from the battalion.

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KATHMANDU:A meeting of the Council of Ministers was held through video-conferencing for the first time today.

Photo: Twitter/ Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is currently in Singapore for his treatment, took part in the cabinet meeting through video-conferencing, making the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) for the first time in conducting such a meeting.

Photo: Twitter/ Bishnu Rimal

A few days ago, a cabinet meeting had decided to amend the Government of Nepal (Transaction of Business) Regulations-2008, allowing the PM to hold Cabinet meetings using information technology from outside the country.

Up until now, the PM was able to hold cabinet meetings from within the country only.

• PM can hold Cabinet meetings from abroad

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