The State Judicial Academy, in its endeavour to further strengthen Judicial skills regarding cyber Crimes Investigation and appreciation of digital evidence, organised first ever workshop for the Judicial officers of Jammu province.The event was conducted under the patronage of Chief Patron of State Judicial Academy, Justice N. Paul Vasanthakumar, Chief Justice, High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Governing Body of the State Judicial Academy Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar, Chairman and member Jammu and Kashmir State Judicial Academy, Justice Janak Raj Kotwal.Director, SJA, Abdul Rashid Malik, conducted the proceedings of the workshop. Judge, High Court of Jammu and Kashmir (Chairman, J&K State Judicial Academy), Justice Alok Aradhe, and resource persons, Venkatesh Murthy K, Deputy Director, Data Security Council of India and Neeraj Aarora, Advocate, Supreme Court of India, New Delhi were also present on the ocassion.
Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar the Judiciary is faced with serious challenge to identify, prosecute and convict such criminals who often make an effort to destroy the evidence and the data. He added that such workshops can do a lot in further streamlining the working of this vital system of a society for larger interest of the people.Justice Janak Raj Kotwal advised the Judicial Officers to upgrade their knowledge regarding appreciation of digital and electronic evidence as per the Evidence Act which will help them in their day to day work while dealing with cases relating to cyber crimes. Justice Alok Aradhe threadbare discussed various provisions of Evidence Act and highlighted the frame work laid down under IT Act. He quoted various leading judgments of Supreme Court of India relating to cyber crimes and the principles evolved by the Courts for appreciation of electronic evidence.
Venkatesh Murthy K discussed about the cyber crimes at length, major cyber crimes reported in India as well as globally, difficulties in handling cyber crimes, sources of digital evidence, best practices in seizing the digital evidence, presentation of digital evidence in the court of law. Neeraj Arora, Advocate, Supreme Court of India spoke on topic “Information Technology Act, 2008 and Admissibility of Digital Evidence. He discussed in detail the salient features of IT Act, criminal aspects v/s adjudication aspects, legal aspects of digital evidence including emails, logos and contracts etc. The training program was concluded with the vote of thanks by the Director, State Judicial Academy.