There is a simple credo that the perfect crime does not exist today given the amount of digital and electronic footprints that people leave in their wake. Even before the advent of digital footprints being used to solve crimes, criminologists hold the theory that crime scenes leave imprints of the people behind them and that criminals end up leaving some loose end or the other. With technology being the order of the day for almost the majority of the people especially in the form of mobiles being used by all sections of people, it is but natural that criminals would also be using them. Ergo, when mobile phones are used by criminals, to commit crimes, it should be easy to track them even when fake names are used for call recors would also give a list of incoming and outgoing calls and the real identity of persons can be ascertained by making inquiries from those holding the numbers of the incoming and outgoing mobile numbers. In most police cases that are solved in other parts of the country where mobile phones records have been used as leads to cracking the cases, all that the police had to do was to look at mobile tower locations to find out whether persons accused of crimes were present in the scene of incident or around it. In Manipur though, not much is known about the efficiency of police cases being solved through mobile vigil or call records being thoroughly investigated. Mobile service providers on their part are bent on increasing their subscribers and though they are mandated to verify the antecedents of people seeking mobile phone connections, the reality is that this rule is flouted. The norm for applying for any mobile service connection is to get an application form, submit Government backed identity proof like a PAN card, a driving license, a passport etc, submit photographs and then have a verification process, after which the SIM cards are dispatched to the address that is given in the application form.
In Manipur, getting a mobile connection through a ‘proper channel’ is more difficult and clearly discouraged by the numerous mobile units of small shops dotting roads and small lanes that promise connections in no matter of time and without any verification process. In doing so, they create a major gap for tracking down the persons when the need arises. Even as the small time vendors run riot on the ground, the mobile service providers become sticklers for rules and regulations when they are approached for assistance officially. For example, call records are not shared on the grounds that such information amounts to breaking the confidentiality of their clients. These call records are given to police investigators but once the media is kept off the purview of these records, there is no guarantee that the investigation would be fair to the truth. And even as mobile service providers get away by concealing client confidentiality, they add There also needs to be a serious re-look into the nature of how SIM cards are readily available in the state for a measly amount of some fifty odd rupees without verification and how they can aid in the cycle of various other crimes.
If technology can be used by criminals during the course of their crime, then it can also be used to trace the culprits for digital footprints can help, where there are no leads available. Trends in crime all over the world show that more and more, mobiles and the internet are being used to plan criminal acts or simply to keep a line of communication open. However, cracking cases and crimes involving the use of technology including the tracking of mobile call records seems to be a weakness for the state police department with most investigations of crimes being left unsolved or in a ‘status pending’ mode, a sad picture in a world where technology can be used to track a lot of criminal activity. Since the purview of the RTI does not include the Home Department, the media and the general population will not be able to get a clear picture of how funds meant for Police department re-organization and modernization is being used but going by the case solving trends in the state, it is clear that they are certainly not being used in technology related trainings and investigation skills.