NEW DELHI: All Central and state law agencies engaged in the fight against terror on Friday agreed on the need to shift towards firmer and more collaborative efforts, backed by a standardised strategy, to counter terrorism in all its forms, particularly cybercrime and financial terrorism.
At the end of two-day anti-terror conference organised by NIA here and attended by senior officials of Central and state police forces and agencies, there was broad consensus that the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, though a power legal tool to tackle terror, should be invoked carefully and judiciously to avoid potential misuse and retain its effectiveness in combating terrorism.
The participants, which comprised 39 heads of Central and state police entities and 150 delegates from across the country, concurred on the need for a holistic, well-rounded strategy to deal with the menace of terrorism, encompassing the country’s entire counter-terror framework extending from the government down to the police station level.
In his concluding remarks on Friday evening, home secretary Govind Mohan urged the state police forces to engage in capacity-building to effectively combat terrorism. He urged the states to send competent officers to NIA, and added that this would not only help steer the agency’s growth but also enrich the investigation culture back home when these officers return to their state cadre. The NIA will be conducting 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 Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) in dealing with financial and cyber related crimes in a coordinated manner, Mohan echoed minister Amit Shah’s views on the need for all police and investigative agencies and forces to share data and information in real time.
During the conference, participants engaged in thematic sessions on topics like ‘prosecution and evolving legal framework in counter-terror (CT) investigations’, ‘significant case studies in terror investigations’, ‘emerging technologies’, ‘dismantling terror eco-system’ and ‘comprehensive CT strategies’.
The police heads called for global cooperation to tackle the misuse of social media by terrorists amid divergent content moderation policies. The session on case studies in terror investigations discussed the Rameshwaram Cafe blast probe, in which Central agencies and various state police had worked together painstakingly and meticulously to retrace the path of the bomber and crack the case.
In the backdrop of the emerging technologies, the need for pooling of resources to overcome cyber and tech constraints was highlighted.
