Cyber forensics is receiving attention of Indian government these days. Whether it is Ministry of Home Affairs, Income Tax Department of India, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT), etc, all of them are dealing with cyber forensics in one form or other.However, of all Ministries/Departments, Ministry of Home Affairs is most interested in developing cyber forensics capabilities. This is so because the central Home Ministry is managing not only law enforcement issues but also issues pertaining to national security.
Further, very soon we may see a National Security Policy of India as well. Whenever such a Policy would be drafted, cyber security and cyber forensics would be essential part of the same.
Even cyber forensics has become very important for Indian legal and judicial system as well because cyber crimes and white color crimes convictions require effective use of cyber forensics to prove the guilt of the accused.
However, cyber forensics is a new field for India and there are very few research works in this regard. Even the Parliament of India has no ready made research material on the basis of which suitable cyber forensics and cyber security laws can be enacted in India.
Praveen Dalal, managing partner of Perry4Law and Supreme Court lawyer, believes that Cyber Forensics is a field that requires greater attention and support from Executive, Judiciary and Parliament of India. He maintains that there is an urgent need to “Sensitise” the three Constitutional Pillars of Indian Constitution and these Pillars must pay more attention to issues like Cyber Law, Cyber Security, Cyber Forensics, Cyber Warfare, Cyber Espionage, etc.
In this background, Praveen Dalal has taken a pro active step. He has released the first edition (September 2010) of his book on cyber forensics in India. He informs that presently, the Book is available under “Limited Circulation Only” and that also after receiving a “Written Request” in this regard from the Head of the Department (HOD) of the “Selective” Governmental Department alone.
Presently, the book is available for executive, legislature and judiciary of India alone. However, do not loose heart as very soon the “public version” of the same would be released after June 2011.
Hopefully, this book would provide meaningful insights of the field of cyber forensics to Indian government. It may also be helpful while drafting future technology related laws, especially techno legal laws, as it is providing many world class and international level “best practices” in the field of cyber forensics.
I am waiting for the “public version” of the same so that I can have one.
